Children of the Sand
by Lightblade77
Summary: Discontinued. I'm majoring editing the story and am going to up it up again under a different name. Then I plan on continuing the main storyline.
1. The Lost Child

Chapter 1: The Lost Child

_Land of Wind…_

A boy walked through the woods, searching. He had no idea what he was looking for. Perhaps someone was merely playing with his thoughts. Perhaps they were only making him think he was looking for something, but instead he was walking into a trap. Or perhaps he wasn't. He smiled slightly.

"I'm far too paranoid," he muttered to himself. "No one has that kind of power as to mess with my thoughts. Not unless it was a very powerful Genjutsu…" His head snapped up and he froze. Up ahead he could hear the sounds of fighting.

He continued forward, much more cautiously this time, until he reached the edge of the battle. Straight ahead of him was the edge of the forest he was in, and beyond that was a large field where he could see rapid movement and heard the clanging of weapons as men fought. The men were moving much to fast to be really seen and immediately the boy realized what he was observing. It was a battle between ninja. He about to leave, realizing this was a bad place to be, but when he turned around he found himself facing two ninja wearing strange headbands.

"Well, well, well," one of them said with a smirk. "What have we here?"

"Besides dumb clichés?" the boy asked before he could stop himself.

The man glared at him. "How dare you!" He pulled out a Kunai and flung it at the boy. The weapon struck the tree next to the boy's head and the boy's eyes widened. A couple of inches over and he would be dead. Now the man was smiling again. He had seen the fear in the boy's eyes. "Good. Now you know who you're dealing with. Perhaps now you won't try to make any lame jokes." The man turned to his companion. "He could be of use to us. Take him."

The other man nodded and started forward, but before he had gotten very far something shot down towards him and struck him on the neck. He fell to the ground without a sound. Sticking out of the man's neck was a small needle. The boy looked down at him, horrified. He had seen death before and it hadn't been all that long ago. It had been them, his parents; they had been killed in a battle.

The first man winced when he saw his companion fall. He looked around at the trees warily. "Where are you?" he growled menacingly. Suddenly, a large object leapt out from hiding and dove at him. The man leapt into the air just in time to dodge the thing. It landed on all fours and looked up at him. He shivered when he realized what he was looking at. It was vaguely human shaped with the basic two arms, two legs, a head, and hair. However, the similarities ended there. The "thing" had three eyes and its whole body seemed to be made of wood. It was a puppet.

The puppet sprang at the man, who by this time had attached himself to a tree with chakra. The man quickly pulled out a second kunai. This one had an explosive tag attached to it. He flung it at the puppet, striking it on the neck. There was a massive explosion and the puppet burst into pieces which scattered across the ground.

The boy, who had been watching all of this nervously, almost cried out when he saw the explosion and the flames that issued forth. He knew all about fire. He had seen plenty of it when the ninja had battled within his town. He had watched his home being brunt down and in all the confusion, nobody cared about him. No one saw the little child standing there all alone, crying.

The man grinned wickedly as the puppet's pieces fell to the ground. He looked up around him. "It didn't work. I would come out now if I were you. Your puppet is destroyed!"

"You didn't honestly think I would bring just one, did you?" said a cool, casual voice from behind the man. He was seized by something large and shoved inside a confined space.

The boy, far below, saw the ninja, who had attacked him, being grabbed and stuffed into a strange, wooden creature with multiple arms. Suddenly, the "useless" pieces from the destroyed puppet rose into the air. They surrounded the second puppet and hidden blades popped out of each of the pieces. Then the pieces shot forward, slamming their blades into holes on the second puppet. There was a piercing scream from inside the puppet, and then all was silent. Even the fighting out in the field seemed to have come to an end. The boy looked at the puppet, shocked into silence. He watched as blood seeped out from its pores.

Abruptly, the puppet vanished in a cloud of smoke, as did the pieces of the first puppet. A dark shape landed beside the boy. The boy looked over to see a man standing beside him. The man was wearing dark clothing and had red lines painted on his face. He looked down at the boy with a sympathetic expression on his face.

"Are you okay kid?" he asked.

At this point, the boy broke down into tears.

_The Hidden Sand Village…Twelve hours later…_

Kankuro dashed through the Sand Village gates with his fellow shinobi and made his way to the Kazekage's office. The boy was very young. That much was obvious. At the moment he was lying on Kankuro's back, fast asleep. He had dark hair, and bright blue eyes, which were, of course, at this moment closed. He wore a long, grey, traveling cloak wrapped around his small body, and he wore sandals. Kankuro glanced over his shoulder at the child riding on his back.

_What were you doing out there kid?_ Kankuro desperately wanted to ask him. He didn't know what to make of the boy. Why had he been out on that battlefield? Why was he out in the middle of nowhere, at least thirty miles from the nearest village without his parents? Kankuro had considered taking him to that specific village, but they had received reports that the village had been taken and burned in a battle. There were just so many questions, and so few answers.

Kankuro approached the Kazekage's house swiftly. He ran into the building and up a flight of stairs, stopping in front of the Kazekage's office. He knocked on the door and walked right in without waiting for a reply.

The Kazekage's office was clean. Gaara made sure it stayed that way. It wouldn't do for someone to enter when he had paperwork strewn all across his desk. Gaara heard a knock on his door, but before he could say anything, it swung open to reveal Kankuro, who had a small boy riding on his shoulders.

Gaara quirked an eyebrow at Kankuro. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you coming into my room without permission? Don't you have any respect?"

Kankuro grinned at him. "Respect?" he scoffed. "Respect my little bro? You've got to be joking."

"I never joke," Gaara replied in his monotone voice. "You, of all people, should know that. Now, why have you come? And who is that boy on your back?"

"This little guy?" Kankuro glanced back at the boy sleeping on his shoulder. "He's the reason for my coming here. I found him out in the middle of the battle tonight. The thing is, I have no idea as to what to do with him. After all, the nearest village at that location was taken and it wasn't even within walking distance of the area we were at."

Gaara digested this information carefully before replying. "Perhaps he is just another war orphan. If he was from the village near the battle then I suppose he might have had time to reach the battlefield if he was fast enough. However, judging from his size I find that hard to believe. I do have one question though, why bring him to me?"

Kankuro shifted the boy's position to keep him from sliding off. "Well, I was wondering what I should do with him. I can't take him. I'm never around, so there would be no one to take care of him. What do you suggest?"

Gaara took a moment before saying, "Temari and Shikamaru are in town, aren't they? I believe they have a child too…perhaps they could take him in for the night until we find a more…permanent residence."

"You _believe_ they have a child?" Kankuro shook his head in amazement. "Little bro, you have GOT to get out more."

Gaara simply shook his head. "I cannot. I have a duty to my village. I must protect the whole. It takes up most of my time."

"Fine," Kankuro sighed. "Well, I guess you'll want the battle report, huh?" Gaara nodded. "Okay, so what should I do with little bit here? He's starting to get heavy…"

"Zaru can take him," Gaara said.

A man floated out of the ground and stepped towards Kankuro. He bowed respectfully, then took the boy and carried him out of the room. Zaru carried the boy over to a sofa in the waiting area and set him down. Then he stood by quietly and waited, watching the boy carefully.

* * *

The boy's eyes opened slowly. He sat up, and examined his surroundings. He was lying on a sofa in an unfamiliar, yet not unpleasant room with other sofas and a few chairs spread out around him. In the corner of the room, almost out of sight, was a tall, muscular man wearing a ninja headband and brown armor. Strapped across the man's back was a long sword.

The man noticed the boy was awake and he walked over to a door, knocked, waited until he heard a "come in" and stepped through the doorway, leaving the boy by himself. However, it wasn't long until the man was back, and with him were two other men. One was short, almost as short as the boy himself. This man had red hair and a tattoo over one of his eyes that read: love. The man had his arms folded across his chest and was watching the boy with dark, haunted eyes. Beside this man was another man who the boy recognized instantly as the one who had saved him.

"Hey kiddo!" Kankuro said enthusiastically. "I see your awake now. How are you feeling?" The boy didn't answer. Instead he stared at the other two men intensely with his blue eyes. Kankuro felt a shiver run down his spine. The boy almost seemed to be analyzing them.

"Boy," Gaara said, with a touch of annoyance in his voice. "Answer the question." He too noticed how the boy was looking at them, but he wasn't about to allow himself to be intimidated by a mere child.

The boy stared at Gaara for another moment before he said, "I feel fine." His voice was still high pitched and child-like. "Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Gaara," Gaara informed him. "I am the Kazekage of the Sand Village, which is where you are now."

Kankuro stepped forward. "And my name is Kankuro. What's yours?"

Once more, the boy didn't answer. Instead, he looked away from them and stared at his lap. His hand closed into a fist, then opened, then closed again. He mumbled something incoherent.

Kankuro leaned forward. "What was that? I didn't hear you."

The boy looked up at them and Kankuro was surprised to see that his eyes were filled with tears. "I said, I don't remember."

Kankuro looked at him sadly. "What do you mean you don't remember? How could you forget?"

The boy looked back down again. "Ever since my village was destroyed, and my parents were…" he faltered for a moment. "…were murdered, I forgot a lot of things. All I remember is what I've done since then."

"He's in shock," Zaru explained.

"Perhaps I am," the boy said. "I don't know that either."

Kankuro cleared his throat loudly. He decided a change in conversation was needed. "We were trying to figure out where to put you. There are several options-"

"Will I have to stay in an orphanage?" the boy asked, cutting Kankuro off. "Cause if I do I'll run away. And you won't be able to catch me."

"No!" Kankuro said, staring at the boy in astonishment. "Why would you think that? No, I was thinking more along the lines of taking you to my sister. She and her husband have a daughter, who I'm guessing is about your age. I don't think they would mind. You would fit in there well. But that would only be for tonight until we decide what else we would do with you."

The boy considered this for a moment, and then he nodded. "That would be, expectable," he said.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. The boy had sounded as if he had control over what happened to him. He did say he would run away, but that was ridiculous. Where would he go?

"It's settled then," Kankuro said, satisfied. "I'll take you there now. Come on." He led the child out of the mansion.

Meanwhile, Gaara went back into his office and sat down at his desk. Zaru followed him silently.

"What do you make of him?" Gaara asked Zaru, after the other man had closed the door.

"He is cautious," Zaru replied. "He acts tough to cover up his fear. It was almost like he thought the worst of us the moment we came into the room with him."

"I see," Gaara thought for a moment, and then shrugged. "Well, it doesn't matter any more. He's Kankuro's problem now. I've got more important things to do." He pulled a stack of paperwork out of one of his desk drawers and got to work.

* * *

Kankuro knocked on the door of his sister's home and waited. As he did, he glanced over at the boy beside him. He was as quiet and distant as he had been at the Kazekage's office. Kankuro sighed inwardly. What could he do to cheer this boy up? Suddenly, the door in front of him opened and he looked around to see Temari standing in front of him. She looked from him to the boy and back sizing up the situation in a second.

"You better come in," she said, holding the door open for them.

Kankuro put his hand on the boy's back and pushed him gently forward. He followed his young companion through the door, pausing only a second to flash an apologetic smile to his sister. Temari closed the door and led them into the living room where they all sat down.

For a moment, they sat in an uncomfortable silence before Kankuro said, "So, you can probably figure out why I am here."

Temari narrowed her eyes at him. "Of course," she replied. "You were out on a mission and found a boy, didn't you?"

Kankuro chuckled ruefully. "Well, yeah," he said. "That about sums it up. By the way, is Shikamaru around?"

"Yes," Temari said shortly. "And he's in bed, just like any sane person would be at this hour."

Kankuro frowned at her. "You don't have to be rude. I was just wondering, that's all."

Temari sighed. "I know. I'm sorry. It's just…this is very abrupt. I know what you're going to ask me."

"And?" Kankuro waited eagerly.

"Yes, he can stay here," Temari replied. "But only until tomorrow night. We have to go back to the Hidden Leaf Village in a few days."

"Thanks Temari!" Kankuro said. He turned to the boy, who was sitting near him on a chair. "How about you kiddo? Will this be…acceptable, as you put it."

The boy had been staring at Temari, who by this point was getting uncomfortable under his unwavering gaze. He turned to look at Kankuro and nodded. "I can stay here. She's nice."

"Obviously you don't know her very well," Kankuro said with a grin. Temari leaned over and smacked him on the head. "Ow!" Kankuro winced. "But seriously, you'll be fine here. I'll be back to get you in the morning. Okay?" The boy nodded and Kankuro stood, and headed for the door. Temari followed him out the door and onto the front porch.

"Wait!" she called.

Kankuro turned to see her right behind him. "What?"

"Who is he?" she asked. "You never gave me a name."

Kankuro shrugged. "I have no idea," he said. "According to him, he has amnesia. Doesn't remember anything up until his family was murdered."

Temari frowned. "Is he in shock?"

"That's what we thought," said Kankuro. "I took him to Gaara before bringing him here. Maybe you can help him or something."

"Well, I'll see what I can do," Temari replied uncertain. "But I doubt one day will make much of a difference."

Kankuro leaned forward and gave his sister a quick hug. "Thanks again Temari," he said. "See you in the morning. And give that lazy brother-in-law of mine my regards."

"Goodnight Kankuro," Temari said quietly as her brother raced off into the distance. Then she turned and headed back inside. She found the boy sitting in the living room staring at a drawing framed on the wall. It was childish drawing. It was basically a bunch of scribbles that faintly resembled a man, a woman, and a small girl standing in front of a house. All three of the people were smiling.

When Temari walked in, the boy turned to face her, his blue eyes narrowing. This woman was nice, he knew that much. She would not hurt him. However, in his experience, everyone had to be analyzed carefully. Why it was like this, he did not know. Some vague memory made him wary.

Temari noticed the boy's intense stare and she quickly pointed at the picture the boy had been looking at. "Were you interested in that? My daughter drew it." As the boy's gaze moved back to the drawing Temari breathed an inward sigh of relief. Something about this boy disturbed her greatly. "My daughter is seven," Temari continued. "You look about the same age. How old are you?" Almost as soon as she said it, she regretted it. The boy's attention was once more focused on her.

"I don't know," the boy said. "I don't remember anything from before."

"That's what Kankuro told me," Temari said quickly.

The boy looked at her with a curious expression on his face. "You don't believe me, do you?" he asked after a moment.

"No, I believe you," Temari replied. "It's just…odd."

"I see," the boy looked back at the drawing again. "I suppose that I am odd then."

Temari opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She didn't know what to say. "Perhaps…I should show you your room," she said.

The boy nodded and stood. He followed her up a flight of stairs and she led him down a short hallway to a bedroom.

"This is the guest bedroom," Temari informed him. "The bathroom is right here across the hall. Do you need me to get you anything?"

The boy shook his head. "No. I'll be fine thanks."

Temari nodded. "Alright then. Goodnight."

A moment later, the boy was alone. He stepped into his temporary room and shut the door behind himself. Then he crossed the room to the window and locked it. After that he examined the entire room, searching for any hidden traps. Anyone could become a potential enemy. He had experienced this first hand. When it had happened, he wasn't sure of. An unfamiliar face flashed into his mind's eye. The face was of a smiling boy a few years older then him. It was peaceful and the younger boy felt a sense of warmth towards this unknown person. Suddenly, the older child's face contorted. It was grinning wickedly. A bladed weapon appeared in his mind. It was raised, and then brought down. There was a loud scream, and then silence. The face was gone.

The boy suddenly came back to his senses. He was crouching in the corner of his room, shivering uncontrollably. He stood weakly, and climbed into the bed he had been given. He pulled the covers up over his head and began to cry. After a few minutes he fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

* * *

Temari reached her room to find Shikamaru sitting on the side of their bed. He appeared to be reading a book, but looked up when Temari walked in.

"I hear we have a visitor," he stated.

"I'll bet you heard more then that," Temari replied drily.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Yeah, I did. So what do you think of him?"

"Honestly? He's kinda creepy," Temari said.

"I wasn't asking about Kankuro," Shikamaru said with a smirk. Temari grinned. "But seriously," Shikamaru continued. "What's he like?"

"He's as I said before," Temari replied. "He doesn't talk much and he's rather odd in the way he goes about things. He just stares at whatever has his interest at that moment."

Shikamaru sighed. "Sounds like we got another weird one. Ah well. Can't do anything about it tonight. I'll just have to meet him tomorrow."

"Alright," Temari sighed. "And our daughter is not weird."

"Whatever."

_Kankuro's house…_

Kankuro had finally returned to his home. He was tired and yet couldn't get to sleep. He just kept thinking about that boy. "_What are we going to do with him? If_ _we can't figure out where the boy came from we might end up taking him to the orphanage, but the boy said he would run if we did that..."_ It was all too confusing. Maybe he would be able to think better in the morning. He closed his eyes, and then suddenly, an idea came to him.

End Note:

Hey guys! Sorry for the abrupt ending. I didn't originally intend it to end like that, it just happened. Anyway, I want to know what you think. I know its slow for now, but it will get faster, I promise. And if I don't get at least two positive reviews then there is no point in continuing this story. So, please review! Thanks.


	2. A New Home

Chapter 2: A New Home

The next morning, the boy slipped downstairs following his nose to the smell of food being cooked. He walked into the kitchen and spotted Temari at the stove, cooking. On the other side of the kitchen was a table set for four and sitting there was a young girl, who appeared to be about his age. She had long blonde hair, like her mother, dark brown eyes, like her father, and wore a purple shirt with brown shorts. She also carried a bag at her side. There was also an older man, with black hair and a laid back expression on his face, sitting at the table.

Temari turned around when she heard the boy come in and she smiled. "Good morning! How do you feel?"

As usual, the boy took a moment to reply. "I feel fine."

"Okay…" Temari racked her brain for something to say. Then she remembered the others in the room. "Oh! And this is Shikamaru, my husband," she said quickly. "And this is our daughter Makino." Shikamaru nodded to the boy before returning to his food. Makino smiled kindly at the boy and pointed to the chair next to her.

"You get to sit over here next to me!" she said happily. The boy seemed surprised for a moment by her enthusiasm, but after a moment he went over and sat down. The girl grinned at him. "How old are you?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied softly.

Makino frowned. "That's strange. Everyone knows how old they are! Even dad!"

"And I'm still trying to forget," Shikamaru said with a groan.

"Well, how old are you then?" the boy asked Makino.

"I'm seven!" she said.

"Okay, here you go," Temari said, appearing behind the boy causing him to jump. She pushed some food out of the pan she was holding on to his plate and walked back to the stove.

"Eat up," Makino said seriously this time. "Or else we can't go out and play."

"Play?" the boy was once again surprised. "I don't play."

"Oh come on!" Makino moaned. "You have to!"

The boy shrugged, and dug into his food, which turned out to be delicious. After he finished, he carried his plate, glass, and utensils over to the sink to be washed. Then, as he was turning around to leave the kitchen someone seized his hand and he felt himself being dragged over to the door.

"Let's go!" Makino said. "Time to play!"

Shikamaru watched calmly as his daughter dragged the protesting boy from the house, and then he went back to his meal. "I'm glad I don't have that kind of energy anymore," he said.

"Did you ever?" Temari asked, smirking at him.

Shikamaru looked thoughtful. "No. I suppose I didn't."

* * *

Makino pulled the boy with her all the way to the park, where she finally let go. "Here we are!" she said with a smile.

"And here I go," the boy snapped back as he started off.

"Do you even know how to get home?" Makino asked slyly.

The boy froze, and then sighed wearily. "No, I don't," he admitted.

"Great!" Makino grabbed his hand again. "I want you to meet all my friends."

The boy yanked his hand back and walked next to her. As they walked Makino pointed out all her favorite spots around the park and the boy pretended he was interested. After a few minutes of this, and without meeting any "friends" he glared at her.

"Where are we going?" he asked rudely.

"Over there," she pointed up ahead.

The boy looked where she was pointing. It was a small forest in the center of all the sand. "What's over there?" he asked, now somewhat curious.

"That's where my friends live," Makino replied. She raced on ahead and the boy had to run to keep up. They ran into the forest and Makino came to a sudden stop. The boy, who had not been expecting this, ran into her and they both fell to the ground. Makino shoved him off and stood up, brushing herself off, and then she stayed where she was, completely still.

The boy jumped to his feet and glared at her again. "What are you doing?" She didn't reply. "Fine. Don't answer me." The boy turned and began to walk away. _I'm going home, even if I don't know the way back._

"They're here," Makino said quietly.

The boy looked back to see two young deer, a male and a female, standing a little ways off from Makino. "What are they doing here?" he asked sharply.

Makino turned and held a finger to her lips. "Be quiet. They don't like loud noises. Especially from people they don't know."

The boy walked back to her side and glanced at her. "What are they doing here?" he repeated, quietly this time.

"My family, the Nara clan, owns a forest full of them back in the Hidden Leaf Village," Makino explained. "They guard it for us. It is a place only a Nara can enter. No one else is allowed. My father brought two of them out here when he married my mom." She held out her hand and beckoned the two deer forward. They walked towards her slowly, throwing cautious glances at the boy as they did. When they reached Makino, she held out her hand and they licked her fingers gently. She giggled. Then she turned to the boy. "Would you like to pet them?" she asked.

He glanced at her, and shook his head. "No. I don't think they like me. See?" He pointed at the deer, which were walking back and forth on the other side of Makino, staying as far away from him as they could.

Makino grinned at the nervous animals and then smiled at the boy. "I guess you're right. Maybe they don't like you!"

"You don't have to be so happy about it," the boy grumbled.

Makino just laughed. Suddenly, the two deer's heads shot up and they glance around warily. Makino looked back over at them, concerned.

"What is it?" she asked. They turned tail and fled off into the forest, but before Makino could call them back she heard a shout.

"Hey! Leaf rat!"

Makino whirled around. Standing behind her were two, identical, grinning boys. Her eyes widened. They were boys that she recognized. Their names were Takumi and Reiji. They were twins who bullied the other children of the Sand Village. Their father, a renowned Jonin of the Sand Village, had a great dislike of foreigners which made Makino's family an absolute disgrace in his eyes. Unfortunately, his children seemed to share this dislike. The two boys had bright red hair and black eyes. They both wore a grey shirt with white pants.

"Oh no," Makino muttered. She spun back to face the boy…but he was gone. Her heart sank. He had abandoned her! She looked back at the twins who were closing in on her. "What do you want?" she snapped.

"We wanted to see this great forest of that failure of a father of yours," Reiji replied.

"Failure?" Makino was enraged. "My father is the greatest Shinobi who ever lived!"

"More like the weakest," Takumi said with a malicious grin.

Makino glared hatefully at them. "Get out of here!"

"Oh, but the fun has just begun," Reiji said.

"What do you mean?" Makino asked while backing up. They were starting to get to close for comfort.

"Our father taught us a new jutsu and we wanted to try it out," Takumi told her.

"What kind of jutsu?" Makino asked, suddenly fearful.

"It would be easiest to just show you," Reiji said. "Will you do the honors brother?"

"Of course," Takumi stepped forward and began forming hand signs.

Meanwhile the boy was observing this all from only a few feet away. He stood up against a tree with his cloak wrapped completely around him. His cloak had somehow changed colors to match the tree bark and the moss that was hanging off of the tree, however the boy didn't find this strange at all. He watched the other two boys taunting Makino, and he watched as one of them began forming hand signs. "_What is he doing?_" the boy wondered. His question was answered only a second later.

Takumi finished his hand signs and he sucked in his breath. He let it out all at once unleashing a stream of fire from his mouth. _Fire Style: Dragonbreath Jutsu!_ The flames struck the nearby trees and immediately, they were caught ablaze.

The boy's eyes widened in horror as he watched the fire burning. It was his worst nightmare come to life. He heard a cry of anger and he managed to look away to see Makino rushing towards Takumi. She pulled back her arm and struck him across the face, causing him to stumble and his jutsu to end. His brother stepped forward and seized her by the arms. She screamed and kicked at him, but they both laughed at her efforts. The boy looked at Makino's tearstained face and in that instant he came to a decision. He dodged around the other boys until he stood behind them and then he leapt out, grabbed their heads and banged them together.

The two boys yelped and Reiji let go of Makino. She ran towards the blazing trees as the twins looked at each other in confusion. Then Reiji realized that he had let go and he sprinted after Makino. The boy, who by this point had hidden himself by another tree, ran out and put out a leg, tripping Reiji.

Takumi saw a strange shape materialize out of the tree next to him and trip his brother. He ran towards the figure and tackled it to the ground. He struggled for a moment before managing to hold the person down. It was a younger boy, who was smaller then either him or Reiji. The boy was wearing a cloak which was rapidly fading into a grey color. Takumi grinned wickedly at him.

"You thought you could attack us without consequences, huh?" he asked laughing. He pulled back his arm to punch the smaller boy when his body stopped moving. Takumi's laughter died off and he felt himself being forced to his feet by an unseen force.

Behind him stood a tall, dark haired man with a laid back expression on his face. It was Shikamaru. "Shadow Possession Jutsu was a success," he pronounced overdramatically.

Reiji, who was still lying on the ground, tried to move and get away, but found himself in the same predicament as his brother. His whole body had been rendered immobile.

"Makino!" Temari ran past her husband and saw her daughter over by the burning trees, slapping at the flames with a large cloth she had pulled from the bag she carried at her side. Temari ran to her and pulled her back.

"No! I have to stop them!" Makino cried.

"Get out of the way!" Kankuro ran past Temari and the struggling Makino. He pulled out a large scroll and unraveled it. As he did, he bit off the end of his thumb and spread some blood across the scroll. There was an explosion of smoke and a large figure leapt out of the smoke towards the fire. It was a metal puppet with two hose-like arms and a hollow body filled with water. It raised its arms and two powerful blasts of water were fired at the burning trees. Kankuro looked over his shoulder at Shikamaru. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I have enough water to put it all out. I'll just have to try and keep it from spreading."

"That's okay," Shikamaru replied without taking his eyes off of the twins. "Do what you must."

The boy stood up and quietly watched the puppet do its work. He stared at it with his upmost concentration.

Makino, who had calmed down and been set down by her mother, noticed his stare and looked over at the puppet also. "_Why is he so fascinated?_" she wondered. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Thanks for helping me out back there," she said.

The boy looked back over at her sadly. "I hate fire," he muttered. "It's a terrible thing."

"Why do you say that?" Makino asked. "It has uses."

"True," the boy sighed. "But from my point of view fire is more trouble then its worth."

They all stood there for several minutes while Kankuro held back the flames. Shikamaru's jutsu quickly ran off and he and Temari stood guard over the two miserable boys. Soon, the fire wore down and Kankuro stood back, examining his handiwork.

"Whew!" he smiled. "That was close. But at least we got here when we did." He looked over at the twins. "What are we going to do with them?"

"You wouldn't dare do anything!" Reiji said haughtily. "Our father is a Jonin! He's even on the high council of our village!"

Shikamaru sighed. "I guess it's up to me then," he said mournfully. "After all, I wouldn't want you two getting in trouble with the higher-ups."

"You?" Takumi scoffed. "What could a Leaf rat like you do to us?"

"That's just it," Shikamaru grinned. "I'm not under any law of this village. In fact, the most your "daddy" and his friends can do is send me home in disgrace. They wouldn't want to kill me and start a war or anything."

"What are you talking about?" Reiji whispered fearfully.

"Well, first you threaten my daughter, then you attack that young boy, and then you try to burn down my forest?" Shikamaru's grin widened. "Whatever shall I do?"

Reiji suddenly jumped to his feet and pulled out a smoke bomb. He threw it to the ground and it exploded filling the air with smoke. When the smoke cleared, both he and his brother were gone.

"They go away!" Makino said angrily.

"No, we let them leave," Shikamaru said calmly. "Their father _could_ cause some real trouble for us." He turned to Kankuro and Temari. "You two might want to speak to Gaara about this. He'll take care of it."

The siblings nodded. "Right!" they said together. Then the whole group headed for home.

_Twenty Minutes Later…Temari and Shikamaru's home…_

They all sat in the living room in silence. Finally, Kankuro spoke.

"Well, I guess I should start," he said. "First of all, I've found a home for you kid." He looked over at the boy, who immediately sat up.

"Where?" he asked Kankuro. "Who's taking me in?"

"I will," Kankuro replied.

"What?" Temari was shocked. "How will you take care of him?"

Kankuro raised a hand for silence. "How long were you out of the road before I found you?" he asked the boy.

"A week," the boy replied.

"Right, a week," Kankuro smiled. "You would have had to find water to drink in that time and you look reasonably well fed. Were you alone for that week?" The boy nodded. Kankuro grinned at Temari. "Well, there you have it. He took care of himself. I won't always be at home. A lot of times I'll be off on missions, but if this boy can take care of himself out in the woods by himself then surely he can take care of himself in a home with food and water readily available."

"I guess that makes sense…" Temari said reluctantly.

"Almost makes one wonder how Kankuro could have thought something like that up," Shikamaru said casually.

Kankuro glared at him. "Do you want to take this outside?" he snapped.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Nah, I don't want to scare the neighbors."

"Good. Then be quiet."

"You first."

"Both of you settle down!" Temari snapped. Kankuro and Shikamaru winced and compromised by glaring at each other. "So you'll take him," Temari said, trying to get them back on track. "Have you talked to Gaara about this?"

Kankuro shrugged. "Our little brother doesn't need to know everything. He has more important things to worry about."

"Fine," Temari sighed. "What do you think?" she was addressing this last comment to the boy.

"I'll go," he said. "I don't want to be in your way."

"Great!" Kankuro clapped his hands together and stood up. "Let's go get your stuff then."

"I have everything I own here," the boy said.

"Er…right," Kankuro looked a little embarrassed. "Come on then. I'll take you to my house."

_Ten Minutes Later…Kankuro's house…_

The boy looked his new home up and down with a critical eye. It was smaller then Temari and Shikamaru's house. He followed Kankuro inside and the older man began showing him around the place. It was a one story house with the basics: kitchen, two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a living room. There was also a locked door in one part of the house. When the boy asked Kankuro about this, the puppeteer informed him that it wasn't important and they continued on.

"This is where you'll sleep," Kankuro told the boy, while showing him one of the bedrooms.

The boy walked in and looked around. "This will be acceptable."

Kankuro sighed. "I'm glad you like it."

The boy looked over at him curiously. "You're not happy," he stated. "Why?"

"I am happy," Kankuro said. "I just…don't always know how to react to you."

"I see," the boy looked at the floor. "You also think I'm odd."

"Odd?" Kankuro quirked an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Temari said that what I did was odd," the boy explained. "So, I deduced that I must be odd. What I can't understand is why people think I am strange."

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "_Besides the fact that you showed up in the middle of nowhere and can't remember anything?_" He didn't say any of this, however. Instead he gestured to the closet in the corner. "Since you don't have any other clothes we'll have to get you something later," he said.

"Alright," the boy said.

"One other thing," Kankuro said. "I can't keep calling you "kid". It's starting to get on my nerves. How about a name?"

"I can't remember my name," the boy informed him.

"I mean make something up," Kankuro said.

"Oh."

"How about…" Kankuro thought for a moment. "Hikaru?"

The boy thought about it, and then nodded. "That will work fine."

"Good," Kankuro smiled at him. He then turned to leave when he heard two words.

"Thank you."

Kankuro stopped. A small smile spread across his face. "You're welcome," he replied before leaving Hikaru to his own devices.

_One Week Later…Kankuro's house…_

Kankuro walked into the boy's…no, _Hikaru's_ room. It had been a whole week since he had come to live there. Time had certainly flown.

"Hey kiddo!" Kankuro said with a smile. He still called him such things every once in a while.

"Hello Kankuro," Hikaru replied without looking up from a book he was reading.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Kankuro asked.

"Sure," Hikaru rolled over. "What about?"

"Well, I was thinking," the man said. "What do you want to do? What is your goal in life? You can't stay around here forever."

Hikaru thought for a moment. "Well…" he hesitated. "I was wondering…remember last week when you used that metal…thing to hold back the fire? And even before that, when you saved me from those shinobi who were attacking me? You used those two wooden people."

"Do you mean my puppets?" Kankuro asked. "What about them?"

Hikaru nodded vigorously. "I was wondering…could you teach me to use them?"

Kankuro grinned. "Are you saying you want to be a shinobi?"

Hikaru looked down at the floor. "I-I guess so…" he muttered.

"That's great!" Kankuro said. "I can help you with that easily. Come with me."

Hikaru followed curiously after Kankuro as they went across the hallway to Kankuro's room. Kankuro crossed his room and crouched down on the floor. He pulled up one of the floorboards and pulled out a couple of scrolls. He turned around and handed them to Hikaru.

"Take these," Kankuro said as he replaced the floorboards. "These scrolls will teach you all you need to know about the basics of puppet jutsu. Anything else will have to be discovered through trail and error."

Hikaru looked at the scrolls in his arms and noticed that they had numbers on them. He sat down, and unraveled the scroll which had the number one on it. Then he frowned.

"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked, concerned.

"This doesn't make sense," Hikaru replied. "What's "Chakra"?"

"Oh, yeah," Kankuro smiled. "I guess you wouldn't know about that, would you? What am I doing? You'll need to learn the basics of Chakra control first." He sighed. "I guess I may as well put those back."

"No!" Hikaru shook his head. "I mean…can I look over them?"

Kankuro shrugged. "Go ahead. But put them back when you're done and don't take them out of this house under any circumstances. I cannot stress how important this is. I can't afford to lose these, understand?" Hikaru nodded. "Great! Then let's get started!"

_Three Weeks Later…Kankuro's house…_

Makino watched in awe as the boy lifted a rock off the floor with chakra strings and made it float around the living room. "Wow!" she grinned. "That's so cool! I wish I knew how to do that!"

Hikaru moved the rock over and set it on a table gently. He glanced over at Makino. "Your mom and dad both are shinobi. Surely they've taught you something of interest, haven't they?"

"Well," Makino blushed and shuffled her feet. "My dad says we're not supposed to show off, but…" She formed a hand sign and Hikaru waited. Nothing happened. He was about to comment on this when he realized his body wasn't moving. Makino giggled and raised one of her arms. Hikaru found his own arm rising with hers. "Pretty cool, huh?" Makino asked slyly.

Over in the kitchen, Shikamaru and Kankuro were sitting at the table, talking. "How is the kid progressing?" Shikamaru asked.

"He's doing very well," Kankuro said. "On his first week of training he mastered the basics of chakra control. On his second he learned how to use chakra strings. This past week I've had him practice using his chakra strings on small objects and I'm planning to let him try out a practice puppet soon. You know, one that doesn't have any hidden weapons attached. I don't want him blowing anything up by accident."

Shikamaru chuckled. "That's true."

"So, how is Makino coming along?" Kankuro asked.

"She's doing well," Shikamaru said. "I've already taught her a Nara shadow jutsu."

Kankuro smiled. "Good for her. Have you and Temari decided which village she'll be part of yet?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah. We decided that since she took to my jutsu then she'll be training in the Leaf Village. I can't let my clan's jutsu be stolen by another village."

Kankuro smiled sadly. "I understand. Do what you must. I was hoping a little that those two might be on the same team one day. They would work well together."

Shikamaru nodded. "I know what you mean. Well, we better be off," he said as he stood. Kankuro also stood and followed his brother-in-law into the living room where Hikaru was once more making the rock fly through the air.

"Time to go," Shikamaru said to his daughter.

Makino smiled up at him. "Okay. Bye Hikaru!" A few minutes later, they were gone.

Kankuro watched Hikaru playing with the rock for a minute before he said, "Hikaru. How would you like to learn how to control an actual puppet?"

Hikaru spun around so fast that he accidentally let go of the rock, sending it past Kankuro's ear and into the wall. Hikaru blushed. "Sorry," he muttered.

Kankuro opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't been struck. "That's okay," he said. "So, how about it?"

"I'm ready," Hikaru said confidently.

"Alright," Kankuro said. "Follow me." He led Hikaru through the house and to a door, which Hikaru recognized as the locked door he had seen on his first day there. He had seen it since then many times, but Kankuro had said it wasn't important so he had never really cared to find out what was behind it.

Kankuro pulled out key, which was attached to a chain hanging around his neck. He inserted the key in the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open. Hikaru followed him inside and his eyes widened. Inside was a puppet workshop.

Kankuro turned around to face him. "All the tools and pieces necessary to build a puppet are in here. Soon, I'll be bringing you in here to build your own puppet, but until then we'll be working with this." He then pulled out a small wooden puppet from under a worktable. It was the height and shape of an adult human, but it had no facial features or hair or anything. There were no decorations on it at all. "This is a practice puppet," Kankuro explained. "It has no weapons or any battle features whatsoever. It's as generic a puppet as any. You'll be working with this until you master all of its movements. Understand?"

Hikaru nodded.

"Great!" Kankuro smiled. "Good luck."

End Note:

_Hey people! Sorry for the late update. I was planning to update at least once a week, so on every Wednesday. Anyway, this chapter was once again slow. It will be speeding up very soon, I've just got some more details to work out. Also, once again I'd like at least two positive reviews please. Thanks! _

_Lightblade out._


	3. Time Passes

Chapter 3: Time Passes…

_Two Months Later…Kankuro's house…_

Hikaru twitched each of his fingers experimentally. Crow's joints snapped into place as he leapt to his feet. Hikaru moved the puppet expertly across the room. It picked up a jug and poured tea into two empty cups. Then it picked up the two cups of tea and carried them over to the kitchen table where Hikaru and Kankuro were sitting. Crow placed the tea cups in front of them, and then sat down in a third chair at the table. Hikaru disconnected his chakra strings and the puppet's head slumped forward.

"Not bad," Kankuro commented while sipping his tea. "Not bad at all. And not a single weapon fired."

Hikaru grinned. "Thanks sensei." He held his own tea cup in his hands and swirled it around nervously staring at it.

Kankuro noticed this, and set his cup back down. "What is it Hikaru?" he asked.

"Well…" Hikaru looked back up at Kankuro. "I was wondering…when I will get to build my own puppet."

Kankuro smiled at him. "Soon Hikaru. Very soon. I know you've been waiting a long time, but we've got to take this one step at a time. Besides, I have to go on a mission soon, and I don't want you here by yourself in the workshop with all those weapons. I have explosive notes in there you know. What if one of them was activated on accident? Or what if you cut yourself while working on the puppet?"

Hikaru shrugged. "I guess I would go to Temari. She would take care of it for me."

"I suppose so, but you'll still just have to wait until I get back," Kankuro said.

Hikaru sighed. "Alright. I'll wait then."

"Good boy," Kankuro ruffled Hikaru's hair affectionately.

"Good boy?" Hikaru gave Kankuro a strange look. "I'm not a dog!"

Before Kankuro could answer, there was a knock at the door. Kankuro waved at Hikaru. "Have Crow answer the door," Kankuro said.

Hikaru nodded and reattached his chakra strings. Crow stood back up and walked to the front door. Hikaru followed, hiding behind the puppet's larger body. Crow marched up to the door and opened it. Hikaru heard a yell of surprise and he laughed as he walked around Crow.

"That's not funny!" Makino scolded him from where she had fallen on the ground.

"It is from my point of view!" Hikaru said with a slight smirk.

Makino sighed. "_I'm glad he came out of his shell, but sometimes he's too much!_" she thought to herself.

"So what do you need?" Hikaru asked.

"I was coming over to see if you wanted to come out and play," Makino said.

"I dunno," Hikaru frowned slightly. "I was going to train some more today."

"You're always training!" Makino said, annoyed. "Why don't you have some fun once in a while?"

"Go on," Kankuro said from behind Hikaru, causing the small boy to jump. "We don't need to train any more today."

Hikaru sighed. "Fine. I'll go." He disconnected his chakra strings from Crow as Kankuro connected his.

Kankuro watched them walking off with a sad look in his eyes. "_He doesn't realize it yet, but she won't always be around…oh well. He'll know soon enough._"

_Two Weeks Later…_

Kankuro unlocked the door to the puppet workshop, and led Hikaru inside. "Here you go," he said. "You can use any of these tools to build your very own puppet."

Hikaru smiled. "Thank you Kankuro."

Before he could go to work, however, Kankuro stopped him. "Wait just a minute," Kankuro said. "I know you've waited a long time, but I want you to be careful. It isn't as easy as it looks. You could easily damage your puppet without meaning to do so. Take your time."

"I understand," said the boy. "I'll be careful."

Kankuro smiled at him and ruffled his hair again. "I know you will. See you later!"

* * *

Kankuro sat at the kitchen table eating his breakfast alone. Hikaru was once more in the workshop just as he had been, off and on, over the last few weeks. He hadn't asked for Kankuro's help, and refused it politely when it was offered. The boy was determined; Kankuro had to give him that. Makino had come by every once in a while, but each time Kankuro had sent her home. He pitied the girl. Hikaru was her only true friend besides those deer. That boy was the only other child who would spend time with the girl, who being a child of Shikamaru's, was not considered part of the Hidden Sand. She was lonely without Hikaru, but he needed to finish this, so Kankuro had left it alone for the time being.

* * *

It had taken an entire month of hard work, but he had done it. Hikaru had finished his puppet. Of course, there would be some problems with it that he would have to work out later, but until then he was finished. He twitched his fingers around, making the puppet float around him. It was actually his height and had similar features and clothing as him. It was built as an almost perfect replica of himself. He hadn't loaded any of the puppet's weapon launchers yet, on Kankuro's orders. There would be time enough for that later.

"Let's see," he said to the puppet. "What should I call you? Since you look like me then let's say…Shadow? Yeah. That'll work. The Shadow. What do you think of that?" He had the puppet clack its wooden teeth together as a response. "Why don't we go freak out Kankuro?" Hikaru said with a grin.

* * *

Kankuro was at that moment resting in the living room. He had just come back from a mission and was thoroughly exhausted. He saw Hikaru walk into the room and he waved to the boy absentmindedly. Hey kid. I'm back! Did you miss me?"

Hikaru didn't answer. Instead, he began walking towards Kankuro.

The man frowned at him. "What are you doing Hikaru? Is something wrong?" Suddenly, Hikaru seized Kankuro around the waist and lifted him high into the air. Kankuro eyes widened in shock. How had the boy gained such strength? Then he noticed a second Hikaru walk into the room.

The second Hikaru smiled up at Kankuro. "What do you think of him?" he asked.

It took Kankuro a moment to figure out what he meant. Then, he burst out laughing. "This is amazing Hikaru!" he said. "Nice work! You even had me fooled."

This caused Hikaru to raise an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a compliment?"

Kankuro glared at the boy. "You know what? You're spending too much time with Shikamaru."

"Yep, he's taught me some of his better comebacks," Hikaru replied with a smile. "It's good to see you again sensei."

_Five Months Later…_

"Happy Birthday!"

Makino smiled as everyone gathered around her. In attendance were her mother and father, Hikaru, Kankuro, and Gaara, who they had somehow managed to drag there. (Hikaru had informed her that her mother had made her father threaten Gaara with the Shadow Possession Jutsu if he didn't come along quietly.) They had also invited Zaru, Gaara's aide, but Gaara had made him stay to take care of business while he was away.

Over the next few hours Makino opened presents and they all had a piece of cake. Afterwards, the adults, minus Gaara, who had snuck away after presents, were sitting around talking while Makino and Hikaru were talking in another room.

"This was fun!" Makino said gleefully. "Thanks so much!"

"You've now said that about ten times," Hikaru told her.

Makino smiled at him. "Yeah. I guess I have."

They sat in silence for a minute or two. Hikaru glanced at her and noticed that she was crying. "What's wrong?" he asked quickly.

"I'm eight years old now," she said quietly.

"Yeah, so?" Hikaru asked.

"Well, now we're going to leave," she said.

"What?" Hikaru gasped. "What are you talking about?"

Makino looked over at him, surprised. "Didn't Uncle Kankuro tell you?" she asked. "My parent's decided we would go to the Hidden Leaf Village for my training in the academy there."

"You mean…your staying there?" Hikaru asked. He knew that they had gone to the Leaf Village to visit every so often, but usually they only stayed a couple of weeks before coming back.

Makino nodded. "Yeah. I'll be staying there."

"What about your parents?" Hikaru asked. "Aren't they ambassadors or something?"

"They are," Makino said. "But dad will be staying in the Leaf Village taking care of me while mom takes care of business. That's how they worked it out."

Hikaru looked at his friend sadly. "I'll miss you…" he said.

Makino was surprised by this statement, but after a moment she smiled at him. "I'll miss you to," she said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. "So, when are you leaving?" Hikaru asked her.

"I'll be leaving as soon as it gets near time for the shinobi academy in the Leaf Village to start a new year," she told him.

"I see," Hikaru looked at the floor. "Let's enjoy being together as long as we can then."

"Right," said Makino. "For as long as we can."

_Five Days Later…_

Elsewhere in the Sand Village, the Jonin High Council was getting together for a meeting. Outside of the meeting hall were Reiji and Takumi. They were waiting for their father to get out of his meeting and to take them home.

Reiji thought about the last few months. They had been horrible for him and his younger (by about a minute) twin brother. Ever since they had gone and tried to torch the Nara's forest, they had been kept close by their father. Reiji could remember his father's anger like it was yesterday…

_Reiji and Takumi's father stood imperiously over their quivering bodies as they stood before him. "How could you do such a thing?" he raged. "Do you realize what this means? Not only have three Jonin turned against me, but the Kazekage is watching me closely!"_

"_It was just a little fun!" Takumi said, tears pouring from his eyes._

"_JUST a little bit of fun?" their father glared at them furiously. "Foolish child. You've done great damage to me this day. I'm disgusted with both of you! Get out of my sight, you miserable wretches!"_

Since then, they had been trained vigorously for a month as punishment for their crime. Even after the initial punishment, they had still kept up a strict training regiment, and their father had not let them out of their home without an escort.

Reiji sighed. "_If only there was a way I could go back and change that day…_" Still, he had something to be thankful for. Both he and his brother were much stronger in both Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. "_Just you wait,_" he though to himself. "_I'll take all of you Leaf rats down, one by one._"

* * *

Hikaru walked to the front door of Kankuro's…no, his home and opened it.

"Happy Birthday!"

Hikaru stared at everyone for a moment in surprise. Standing on his front porch was everyone who had been at Makino's party, except Gaara. His assistant, Zaru, had come instead. Also among the crowd was a new friend of both Hikaru and Makino's. It was a boy named Ichiro, who they had met one day at the park while going to the forest to see the two deer.

"What do you mean, "Happy birthday"?" Hikaru asked. "We don't know when my birthday is."

"Precisely," Kankuro said, coming up behind the boy. "You didn't remember, so I decided that we would call the day that I found you your birthday."

Hikaru looked up at Kankuro in surprise. "It's already been a whole year?"

"Yeah," Kankuro looked over at the boy. "And I think you've grown maybe a total of two centimeters since we first met."

"HEY!" Hikaru yelled. "What are you talking about?"

Kankuro smirked. "So, how about letting out guests through the front door? You're kinda blocking the way."

Hikaru looked back over at the crowd of people who were still waiting out front. "Oh, sorry," he said embarrassed. He stepped back and everyone began filtering through the doorway congratulating him.

Last of all were Ichiro and Makino. Ichiro clapped him on the shoulder and grinned at him. "Happy birthday man."

"Yeah," Makino nodded. "It feels like yesterday that you got here. I remember you were such a scrawny little kid. You still are, but that's beside the point…"

Hikaru glared at her. "I'm not scrawny," he said.

Makino shrugged. "Deny it all you want."

"Come on guys!" Ichiro groaned. "Let's have some fun for once. There's no need to keep sniping at each other."

"Sure," Hikaru nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

After a few hours, the party started to die down. Hikaru found himself alone in the same room as Zaru. The tall swordsman was sitting quietly in a chair, not looking at Hikaru.

The boy wasn't sure what to say. Zaru had come to his party, but Hikaru had not spoken to him very often. After a few minutes, of what seemed to Hikaru to be an uncomfortable silence, Zaru shifted in his chair and Hikaru noticed once again the long sword strapped across his back.

"So…" Hikaru began. Zaru glanced at him curiously.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You use a sword?" Hikaru asked nervously.

Zaru chuckled. "I thought that would be fairly obvious."

Hikaru went red. "I didn't mean it like that!" he said quickly. "Are you good?"

Zaru contemplated this for a few moments before replying. "Yes," he said. "I would have to say I'm the second best swordsman in the village."

"Second best?" Hikaru frowned. "How did you figure that out?"

Zaru shrugged. "Well, I've dueled just about every swordsman here and won. Also I was trained under the strongest swordsman in the village, so many would not dispute my claim."

"Cool!" Hikaru's face brightened. "Do you think you could teach me?" He immediately realized the bluntness of his statement and he looked at the floor. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean…"

Zaru smiled encouragingly at him. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I'm just glad you've come out of your shell. However, why would you want to fight with a sword? I thought you were training to be a puppet master."

"I am," said Hikaru. "I just thought maybe it would be best to learn another style of fighting."

"It could be helpful," Zaru said. "Unfortunately, I can't train you at this time."

"So you might seriously do it then?" Hikaru asked excitedly.

Zaru nodded. "It'll be my present to you, since I didn't buy you anything. Think it over for a while, and if you still feel the same way in a few months, then I will train you."

"Really?" Hikaru grinned. "Thank you sensei!"

Zaru raised an eyebrow as he watched the boy leave the room. "_He's already calling me sensei?_" He laughed quietly to himself. "_What a strange little boy._"

* * *

"What are you so happy about?" Makino asked Hikaru as he walked into the kitchen with a grin on his face.

"Oh, nothing important," he said, his grin widening further.

Makino sighed. "Fine then. I just want you to know, we'll be leaving soon."

Hikaru was still grinning for a few moments before her statement clicked in his brain. His smile disappeared and he went pale. "Oh no…" he whispered. "You mean…for your training?"

Ichiro, who was sitting next to Makino, looked at both of them, confused. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"As you already know, my father is from the Hidden Leaf Village," Makino told the older boy. "I choose his clan's jutsu over my mother's. Because of that, they decided I should go to the Leaf to train and become a ninja there. And…I won't be coming back for a long time. Maybe not even until I'm out of the academy. My parent's want me to just focus on training during that time…"

"I'm sorry," Ichiro said sadly.

"It'll be okay," Makino said brightly. "Once I'm a full fledged shinobi I'll come back here and we can go on missions together!"

"Yeah!" Ichiro grinned.

Hikaru shrugged. "Hopefully we will. It all depends on what kinds of missions we are given."

"I'll think of something," Makino said.

"Right, so when are you guys leaving?" Hikaru asked.

"In five days," Makino said miserably.

Both boys were shocked by this announcement. "Five days?" Ichiro asked. "I didn't think it would be so soon! I mean, I just found out!"

"Yeah…sorry for the late notice Ichiro," Makino said with a small smile. "It's just been bothering me for a while now. I didn't want to talk about it."

"I understand," Ichiro replied. "Don't worry about it."

"_Five more days,_" Hikaru thought sadly. "_And then she'll be gone…_"

* * *

Several hours later, after everyone had left, and Hikaru was getting in bed, he heard a knock on his door. He looked over to see Kankuro leaning into his room.

"Hey kiddo," said Kankuro.

"Hey!" Hikaru smiled. "Whatcha need?"

"Well, according to Zaru you want to learn how to fight with a sword," Kankuro explained. "Is this true?"

"Well, I…" Hikaru looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry…"

"What for?" Kankuro asked. "I'm glad you're interested in something else."

"You are?" Hikaru was stunned.

"Sure," Kankuro smiled. "I was just wondering how you were intending to use a sword while controlling puppets."

"Oh, well, I was working on that," Hikaru explained. "I'm going to need to go back into the puppet workshop again, if that's okay with you."

Kankuro nodded. "Of course. Use it as much as you need to."

"Thanks," Hikaru lay back on his bed. He closed his eyes wearily and began drifting off into sleep. "Goodnight…dad."

Kankuro was leaving the room when he heard that word and he froze. He looked back at the boy, who was now fast asleep. "Goodnight…son."

_Two Weeks Later…_

Hikaru stood in front of the ninja academy. He was wearing some clothes that Kankuro had bought him; however, those clothes were covered by his old cloak. He also had Shadow wrapped up in bandages and strapped to his back. He had gotten the idea from Kankuro. He was staring up at the tall academy building wondering what it would be like once he got inside. Suddenly, someone smacked him on the back making him stumble forward.

"Hey Hikaru!" Ichiro said cheerfully, oblivious to the fact he had nearly knocked Hikaru on his face.

"Hi Ichiro…" Hikaru replied after he had balanced himself again.

"Why are you standing around out here?" Ichiro asked. "Let's go inside."

Hikaru sighed. "Alright…" He followed his excited friend into the building. Hikaru looked over at Ichiro blankly. "Do you have any idea where our classroom is?" he asked.

"Nope!" Ichiro answered. "We'll just have to search for it from top to bottom checking every room until we find it!"

"Or we could just look for the room number," Hikaru said, holding a piece of paper he had pulled from his pocket. "Its 104. So, it's probably on the first floor."

Ichiro looked over at Hikaru mournfully. "That's no fun," he commented. "I had this all planned out to…"

Hikaru ignored his friend and looked at the surrounding rooms. He pointed to one that was close to them. "That's it," he said before heading for it. Ichiro grumbled to himself for a minute before following. Hikaru pushed open the door and stepped inside.

It was a large room with steps that were wide enough that they had desks on them. In the front of the room were, of course, the teacher's desk and a chalkboard. As Hikaru was examining the room, he noticed that there were several other children their age already there. Hikaru and Ichiro walked into the room and headed for a desk on the second row. They sat down and waited for class to begin. They talked some, but mostly watched the other students who were beginning to arrive in swarms as it neared class time. When they had only about five minutes left before class, Hikaru saw two people that he had hoped to never see again. It was Reiji and Takumi. Reiji caught Hikaru looking at him and he met the younger boy's angry gaze with a stony one.

Ichiro noticed Hikaru shaking slightly and he leaned over to him. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Those two…" Hikaru couldn't say any more as rage filled him. Instead he waved his hand at the twins.

Ichiro glanced at them, and then looked back at Hikaru. "Are they the ones who tried to burn down Makino's forest?" Hikaru jerked his head in something that slightly resembled a nod. "Well, calm down," Ichiro said. "You're starting to get me worried."

Hikaru closed his eyes and let out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. Then he opened his eyes and watched as the twins moved up the rows, on the other side of the room, and sat down close to the back.

"See? They aren't even coming over here," Ichiro pointed out.

Hikaru sighed. "Yeah…good."

They waited a few more minutes and finally the bell rang. There was only one problem. Their teacher still hadn't shown up. They waited five minutes…then ten…suddenly, the doors banged open and a man rushed in carrying a stack of paper. He slammed it down on his desk and then collapsed on the floor panting.

A few students snickered as the man stood back up. He waved at them vaguely. "I'm sorry I'm late," he said. "I was having breakfast when I realized that I had overslept and I rushed over here."

"_This guy doesn't seem very reliable,_" Hikaru thought as the man smiled apologetically.

"Well, anyway," the man continued. "As you may have guessed, I'm going to be your teacher for while you are here at the academy. My name is Manashi Kishimoto."

"Man, we got an idiot for a teacher."

Hikaru looked up to see Takumi lounging back in his chair with a look of boredom on his face. Suddenly, Hikaru saw something move out of the corner of his eye and the next thing he knew, Manashi was standing behind Takumi with a kunai at his throat.

It took the red haired twin a moment to realize where the teacher had gone, and then he noticed the kunai. He gulped.

"No talking in class please," Manashi said with a smile. "It's distracting for those who want to learn." Around the room students were murmuring to one another, awed by his speed. "And that goes the same for everyone," Manashi said loudly. Instantly, they became quiet. Manashi walked back to the front of the room ignoring the nervous stares he was receiving. He stood beside his desk and whirled around suddenly making everyone flinch back. "Now…"

The classroom door opened cutting him off. A young boy walked in, yawning. He was tall and thin, with blue eyes and black hair. He was wearing a white shirt with jeans. The boy stopped and looked around at everyone in the room, who were all staring straight at him.

"What?" he asked, scratching his head sleepily.

"What's your name?" Manashi asked, his eye twitching dangerously.

The boy looked over at his angry teacher, not concerned in the least. "Touta Matsuda," he said after a moment.

"Well, then," said Manashi quietly. "Sit down. Class has already started."

Hikaru looked from his teacher to Touta, and then back to his teacher. "_Is he angry because Touta came late? Or because this guy was even more late then he was. It does kinda diminish his entrance..._"

Touta walked up the stairs slowly and ended up at the desk next to Hikaru and Ichiro's. Touta then proceeded to sit down and lay his head on his desk, closing his eyes.

Hikaru couldn't stop a small grin from appearing on his face. "_Now who does he remind me of?_" he asked himself sarcastically.

* * *

After classes were over and everyone was getting ready to leave, Hikaru felt someone poke him on the back.

"Where's your leaf rat friend? Did she get scared and run off?"

Hikaru knew who it was before he turned around. Takumi was standing behind him with a big grin on his face. Hikaru felt the rage building up inside him once more. It was all he could do to keep from striking Takumi.

"Leave him alone," it was Ichiro. He had spoken with an authority in his voice that even caused Takumi to take a step back, his grin fading slightly. Hikaru glanced over at his usually cheerful friend, surprised.

Takumi quickly regained his composure and his grin returned. "Oh, so you've got another loser friend," he sneered.

At this, Hikaru lost it. His hand came up and he seized Takumi by the front of his shirt, lifting him into the air with surprising strength. Immediately, Manashi appeared at his side and grabbed his wrist, forcing his arm down.

"Enough!" he snapped. "If you want to fight, do it outside!" He then also grabbed Takumi's wrist and dragged both boys out of the school. He led them over to a rectangular shaped concrete area and shoved them out onto it. "There! You can fight here if you like. Just make sure to settle your differences now. I might not be so lenient next time."

Hikaru glared at Takumi, who was standing several feet in front of him. "_Alright. Now its time to show them what you've got Hikaru._"

"What are you two doing?" Manashi called out from the sidelines. "Did you change your mind?"

"No way!" Takumi's grin was back again. "I've been waiting for this for a long time!" Suddenly, his hands began forming signs rapidly. He began sucking in his breath and in that instant, Hikaru realized what was happening. _Fire Style: Dragonbreath Jutsu! _A stream of fire poured from Takumi's mouth striking Hikaru on the chest. Hikaru was thrown through the air and he slammed back down to earth several feet away, his chest smoking slightly.

From the sidelines Manashi's face went pale. "_Oh no. I didn't think they would be able to use a jutsu like that!_" Just as he was about to start forward he heard laughter, and it wasn't coming from Takumi. It was coming from the bundle that was lying beside Hikaru's prone form.

Hikaru stood up, except, he didn't look so much like Hikaru anymore. His face was wooden, frozen in an eternal smile. His joint cracked and snapped when they moved, as if they hadn't been used in a long time. Suddenly, the pile of bandages beside this wooden Hikaru stood up, and fell away. Inside was a second Hikaru. It was the real Hikaru. He stood there with his hands outstretched at his wooden counterpart. Thin, almost invisible lines connected his fingers to different parts of the object.

"_Wh-what is that?_" Takumi wondered nervously.

"_That's a puppet!_" Manashi realized. "_He's using the puppet jutsu. But how? That technique is far to advanced for someone like him!_"

"Here I come!" Hikaru shouted, bringing Takumi back to his senses. Hikaru moved his fingers lightly and Shadow shot forward. His mouth opened and a kunai shot out at Takumi.

The twin chuckled slightly as he pulled out his own kunai and deflected the first one. "Too easy!" he said. Suddenly, Shadow was right in front of him and Takumi was punched hard, sending him flying across the arena. Takumi winced as he pushed himself back up.

"What are you doing?" it was Reiji, who was standing on the sidelines also watching the match. "Pay attention! And don't get cocky!"

"Sorry," Takumi muttered as he stood up.

Now Takumi's grin had completely vanished. His eyes narrowed as he focused on Shadow. Hikaru noticed his opponent had recovered and he quickly sent Shadow at him again. Takumi formed hand signs once again and he swung to the side before firing. _Fire Style: Dragonbreath Jutsu! _This time the stream of fire went around Shadow and shot straight for Hikaru, who had to jump out of the way to dodge. Takumi used that moment to run past Shadow, who had stopped moving as soon as Hikaru lost concentration. When Hikaru landed from his leap, he found himself facing Takumi. Before he could do anything, the red haired boy had punched him in the gut, making him double over in pain.

"_Its over!_" Takumi thought confidently. He began forming hand signs, but before he could finish, Hikaru muttered something.

"Mistake," Hikaru said quietly. "Never leave your back open…"

Shadow struck Takumi on his back before he even knew what was happening. Takumi was knocked face down on the ground with Shadow pinning his arms and legs. Hikaru had Shadow lift one of his arms up and a small needle popped out its wrist. Shadow then placed the needle on Takumi's neck.

"Surrender," Hikaru ordered. "There's nothing you can do."

"NO!" Takumi yelled and he writhed in Shadow's grip trying to pull free.

Hikaru sighed. "Listen. Even if you don't give up I'll have to prick you with that needle. On it is a poison that will leave you paralyzed for couple hours, but I don't want to do that."

Takumi glared hatefully up at Hikaru. "Fine," he spat. "I surrender."

Hikaru pulled on his chakra strings and Shadow leapt back to his side. He then turned and began walking back to the pile of bandages that he had left on the ground.

Manashi leapt over to the center of the arena and raised one of his hands into the air. "Winner: Hikaru!"

There was a virtual explosion of clapping all around the arena and Hikaru looked up, realizing for the first time that a large crowd of students had gathered to watch the match. He saw Ichiro cheering in the crowd and he waved at his enthusiastic friend.

Hikaru looked back at Takumi who was walking away, his head down. "_I did it,_" he thought. "_I actually did it!_"

Manashi looked back and forth between the two boys. "_These kids…they're more powerful then I expected. Although, they are lacking in the dodging category. Even so, I think I can say this year is going to be very interesting…_"

End Note:

_Hey Everyone! Once again I updated one day to late. Ah well. It's a longer chapter so hopefully that makes up for it. Thanks for reading and please leave a review. I'd like to get at least two positive reviews again this chapter. Last chapter was a bit of a disappointment. Only one review! Although, I did get one person to favorite my story so that worked out. :) Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!_


	4. Scrolls

Chapter 4: Scrolls

_Kazekage's Office…_

Hikaru stood outside of Gaara's office, waiting. Zaru had sent him a letter, asking him to come so that he could speak with him. Of course, he still had to wait until Zaru's work for the day was done. Hikaru wondered if today was the day that Zaru would begin his training in Kenjutsu.

Hikaru glanced at the door impatiently. Admittedly, he had arrived ten minutes early, but even so…

Suddenly the door swung open and Zaru stepped out. He looked over and saw Hikaru and smiled.

"Well, you're early," he commented.

"I try," Hikaru replied. "So, what is it?" Inwardly he was thinking, "_Please oh please say you'll train me now!_"

"Do you remember back on your birthday when you asked me if I would train you in Kenjutsu?" Zaru asked.

"Yeah," Hikaru said, forcing himself to remain calm.

"I was wondering if you still wanted to learn," Zaru said. "Do you?"

"YES!" Hikaru shouted, unable to contain himself any longer. He bounced around the room cheering. "THANK YOU SENSEI!!!!!"

Zaru smiled weakly. "Y-You're welcome…" he said. "_Hikaru is totally different from when I first met him. He's a happy person now, and way over excitable. Perhaps this is his true personality that was previously hidden behind the pain of his past._"

Hikaru stopped jumping around and turned to Zaru with a huge grin on his face. "So when do we get started on training?" he asked.

"We could start right now," Zaru said. He motioned for Hikaru to follow him. They left Gaara's office and Zaru led Hikaru all the way across town. Along the way, Zaru would stop and greet other people, many of whom Hikaru had never even so much as seen before.

"_He sure is popular,_" Hikaru thought.

After a while, Hikaru began to wonder if they would ever reach their destination when he suddenly found himself in front of a house. "What is this place?" he asked.

"This is my home, and where I train," Zaru informed him.

The man led Hikaru through the front door and the boy found himself in a hallway. Zaru opened the door on his left and walked in. Hikaru followed after a moment. It was a large room with mats covering the floor. There were cuts on some of these mats where it was obvious that a sword had slipped. On one wall was a rack of wooden swords. On the opposite wall was another rack, but this one held real swords.

"Wow…" Hikaru breathed.

Zaru crossed the room to the wall of wooden swords and, after a moment of looking over them, pulled one out. "Here," he called, tossing the sword over his shoulder to Hikaru. The boy was caught off guard and tried to catch the sword, but ended up dropping it on the floor. Hikaru quickly snatched the sword back up and pretended to look like nothing had happened as Zaru turned back around.

"So, what do I do first?" Hikaru asked.

Zaru sighed. "First you learn how to hold the sword right. AND to not be so surprised by sudden movements." He smiled slightly as Hikaru went red. "Let's begin."

* * *

Kankuro watched Hikaru entering the puppet workshop once again. The boy was at it again. He had a new puppet idea to go along with Kenjutsu, whatever that idea was. Hikaru had refused to tell him, saying that he wanted it to be a surprise. Kankuro sighed. The boy was becoming more independent as time went on. He had always been a loner, but to remain this secretive was totally unlike him.

Meanwhile, in the puppet workshop Hikaru had finished one of his puppets new arms. It was wooden from the shoulder down to the elbow, but connected to the elbow was a long blade. Hikaru grinned. This was definitely going to work out. Of course he would have to practice to be able to do what he was planning, but he would have plenty of time for that later. Casually, he glanced up at a clock on the wall. Suddenly he realized he was ten minutes late for sword practice!

Kankuro was coming out of the kitchen carrying a cup of tea. Hikaru blasted past him sending the cup flying through the air. The boy spun and shot chakra strings, catching the cup on the fly. He handed it back to Kankuro and then ran out the door.

Kankuro watched calmly as Hikaru disappeared from sight. "_His reflexes are getting much better…_" he thought. "_In a few years, with this rate of training, I might even have some trouble keeping ahead of him._"

_The Next Day…_

"Hey, dad?" Hikaru said, walking into Kankuro's bedroom.

"Yeah?" Kankuro said without turning around. He was busy fixing Crow, which had been damaged slightly on his last mission.

"Could you teach me that sealing jutsu that you do with your puppets?" Hikaru asked.

Kankuro set Crow down and looked over at Hikaru. "Why?" he asked.

"As you know," Hikaru said. "I'm working on another puppet and this one…well; I don't think I'll be able to carry both of them on my back."

"Right…" Kankuro thought for a moment. "How can we work this into your schedule? I don't want to take any time away from your schooling or your other training…"

"I can probably practice at seven each night," Hikaru said.

Kankuro looked over at him. "I guess you could," he admitted. "Just don't work yourself to death."

"I won't," Hikaru replied. "Mom." He shot away before Kankuro could say anything further.

_Two Months Later…_

Hikaru stood up proudly from his work. He was finally finished with his new puppet. This one was taller than Shadow and was more durable. It balanced on four spindly legs that ended with sharp points. Its body was a solid cylinder-shaped block of wood and its head was connected directly to its body with no neck. The head had two large eyes on it that were solid black and it had two antennae on top. It also had two arms which were both connected to sharp sword-like blades.

"And your name will be Mantis," Hikaru declared out loud. He grinned. "_Two puppets down!_"

It had taken him longer then he had expected to finish Mantis. During the day he had school. After school he had a little time on his hands before he went to sword practice. That lasted for several hours and normally he was exhausted by the time he got home. When he did get home he then proceeded to work on sealing. After that he usually went to bed and was out within a minute. The only time he really had to work on Mantis was over the weekends when there was no school. Now, however, he was finished.

Hikaru stood back and looked over Mantis proudly. He was moving right along towards his goal. Soon he would have a whole new fighting style that was all his own. Hikaru looked up at the clock in the room. It was two in the afternoon. Kankuro wouldn't be back from his latest mission until eight that night. Hikaru had nothing to do until then. It wasn't often that this happened. Now he had no idea what to do next. After a little while he decided to go on a walk and get some fresh air. Maybe he would go visit Ichiro. It had been a long time since the two of them had spent time together. Hikaru grinned sheepishly. It was just that he had these times when all he could think about was training.

Hikaru left the puppet workroom, locking the door behind him. Then he went out the front door of his house and locked that door. He headed off in a random direction. He soon found himself in the main street of town. All around him people were shopping or playing games. He wandered down the street looking absentmindedly at the shops around him. As he walked by an alleyway, a person, who was running, slammed into him, almost knocking him over.

"Hey!" Hikaru shouted whirling around. The person who had run into him was already disappearing around a bend, but before they could Hikaru caught a glimpse of the person. Whoever it was was as small as Hikaru and wore dark Shinobi armor along with a cat-like animal mask, just like an ANBU. "_I didn't know ANBU had children my age working for them,_" Hikaru thought. He looked down the alleyway that the young person had come out of. It was completely empty. "_Strange,_" Hikaru thought. "_If that person was just running, why weren't they using the rooftops?_"

Hikaru walked into the alleyway and checked the walls. He couldn't see anything unusual and was about to leave when he noticed a small mound of dirt that looked like it had just been moved. He crouched down by it and scraped it away. Beneath the dirt was a small hole. Hikaru looked around, but nobody was watching. He crawled forward and squeezed into the hole, barely managing to fit. He pulled himself through the short tunnel, one inch at a time, until he reached the other end. He felt around carefully, and then stood up, realizing that he had entered a room.

It was dark in the room, but Hikaru simply stood completely still for a few minutes until his eyes finally adjusted. The room was filled with racks of scrolls. Hikaru pulled one of these scrolls down and opened it. He had to hold it next to the hole he had entered by to read any of the writing. Written on the scroll was a series of complicated hand signs and chakra control methods for a jutsu that Hikaru had never even heard of before. He replaced the scroll and moved on further examining other scrolls as he went. Some scrolls he could understand, while others were so strange he had no idea how anyone could figure it out.

"_What is this place?_" Hikaru wondered. Suddenly, it clicked in his brain. He had stumbled upon the one of the village's Jutsu Scroll warehouses. Now he knew why that ANBU had been in here. He heard a door open on the other side of the warehouse and he quickly replaced the scroll he had been holding. He ducked back to the hole he had come through and dove into it, crawling as quickly as possible. Once he was back out in the sunshine he had to stop for a moment and allow his eyes to adjust again before he ran back home. It was only then that he thought about what he had discovered.

"_There were scrolls with jutsu on them back in there_!" Hikaru began to get excited. "_Maybe there are some puppet jutsu I could learn from them!_" Then as he calmed down he began to reason. "_But why would they hide the scrolls away? It is possible that some of those jutsu are forbidden…and yet, if I could just learn one or two of them I could become much stronger! How would I do it though, without anyone noticing?_" As he sat there thinking, a plan began to form in his mind. A grin spread across his face. He had it!

* * *

A few days later, when Kankuro had once more left on a mission, Hikaru made his way back to the hidden room. He crawled back through the hole and stepped once more into the room. This time, he had brought a lantern and a scroll of his own. He lit his lantern and began searching the racks of scrolls. This time he noticed there were words written under each of the scrolls which described the contents of that particular scroll. He walked through the building looking for the word "puppet". The scrolls weren't in any particular order so it took him about three rows to locate a scroll that was labeled puppet. He lifted it from the rack and set it down on the floor. Slowly, carefully, he unrolled it and then set down his own scroll under it, unrolling that one also. He then pulled out a pen and a bottle of ink from his pocket. He popped the cork out of his ink bottle, dipped his pen in it and began to copy down the words and illustrations from the puppet scroll.

After several hours, he sat back to let the ink dry. He examined his work. He hadn't gotten far. The puppet scroll was very extensive and descriptive of the jutsu that were contained within. Some of it wasn't jutsu, however, but design ideas for different kinds of puppets.

Hikaru sighed and stretched his back. He had done enough that night. He then rolled up the puppet scroll and placed it back on the shelf. He began rolling up his own scroll and slipped it under his cloak. He then blew out his lantern, headed back to the hole, crawled through it, and walked home. Once he reached his house he went straight to his room, lifted a floorboard, (he had gotten the idea from Kankuro) and placed the scroll inside.

He lay down on his bed, exhausted. "_I'll go back tomorrow,_" he thought. "_I've got to write as much as I can before dad comes home._" A feeling of excitement filled him. Soon he would have the secrets of puppetry right there in his room and no one would know. Of course, he would have to be careful. He would have no teacher there to help guide him along the way.

* * *

It was the next day. Hikaru was already at class. He was, as usual, sitting next to Ichiro on the second row. Their teacher, Manashi Kishimoto, had just come in. He walked to the front of the class and turned to face them.

"Today will be different," Manashi said abruptly. The whole class was silent. "Today we will be pairing you all up with someone else in the class," Manashi continued. "You will then fight that person with your current skills until one of you surrenders, or is knocked out. There will be a chunin assigned to each of the pairs. If a battle goes too far and gets to dangerous then that same chunin will step in and that match will be declared a tie. Also they will be there to keep any weapons or jutsu from your battle from interfering with the other duels." Manashi's gaze roamed over the faces of his students. "The objective is not to win. It is to test your skills in an actual battle scenario. So, do your best, but don't go overboard. Alright, let's head out."

As they were leaving, Touta walked in late. Manashi, predictably, ignored him, but instead kept the students together, heading out the door.

* * *

Hikaru waited as Manashi called out the names of the students who would be battling each other. Those two students chosen went over to a group of chunin, one of whom would step out and lead them over to a small arena. The crowd of students thinned quickly and Ichiro soon left Hikaru's side and went with a blond haired boy over to the group of chunin.

"Hikaru," Manashi said loudly. "And Tatsuki Arisawa." Hikaru's head shot up. He noticed a girl step forward and he walked over to her. She had brown hair which was tied back in a ponytail. She also wore a dark shirt along with dark pants which covered her from her neck to her ankles. She also wore gloves on her hands, which were, not surprisingly, black.

Hikaru nodded to the girl and they walked to the group of chunin. One of the chunin, a male, stepped out and led them over to an arena. He sent them to opposite sides of the field and they faced each other.

"Are you ready?" Hikaru asked quietly.

Tatsuki smiled sweetly at him. "Of course. Don't hold back."

The chunin stood slightly off to the side and raised his hand in the air. "This match will continue as long as you are both able to fight. If you are thrown from the arena then you lose. That is all. Begin!"

Tatsuki didn't hesitate. She immediately threw two kunai, which she had dropped from her sleeves, at Hikaru. He barely had time to leap to the side and dodge. Tatsuki dove in at him and began punching rapidly. Hikaru was forced to jump backwards constantly to dodge. Suddenly, he felt himself starting to fall off the edge of the arena. His chakra strings shot out and his puppet, Shadow, stuck out its legs bracing him and keeping him from falling over.

Tatsuki dove in and Hikaru had Shadow push him back to his feet. Hikaru then ducked under Tatsuki's fist and raced back to the center of the field. He turned back around to face her.

"_This girl is fast,_" Hikaru thought. "_And that's bad for me. I still don't have the hang of taijutsu and I don't have a sword for kenjutsu. I don't even have Mantis with me. Guess I'll just have to do this the old fashioned way._" He pulled Shadow off of his back and unwrapped him completely from the bandages.

* * *

Meanwhile Ichiro was dueling his opponent in taijutsu. He ducked under a punch and struck out at his opponent, knocking him back. Ichiro followed this up with a spinning kick to the jaw, causing his opponent to collapse on the ground. Their chunin stepped forward and checked out the other boy.

"It's over," the chunin declared. "Winner: Ichiro."

Ichiro wasn't listening. Instead, he was watching Hikaru's battle intensely.

* * *

Reiji stared unconcernedly at his opponent. His name was Kosuke Toriumi. He was a several inches shorter then Reiji and had black hair. "These duels are idiotic," Reiji commented. "Why do I have to fight someone as weak as you?"

The Kosuke shrugged and smiled. "Maybe some of us aren't as weak as you think. But you can't really know until we begin."

"Come on then," Reiji said, yawning. "I guess we may as well get this over with."

"Sure," Kosuke folded his arms and waited. "You first."

Reiji glared at him. "Don't get overconfident."

He ran forward and began attacking. Kosuke leapt over his blows and tapped him on the head. Reiji growled angrily and spun around aiming a punch at the other boy's head. Kosuke ducked and kicked Reiji's legs out from under him. Reiji jumped back to his feet and punched again. Once more Kosuke dodged to the side and tapped Reiji on the cheek with his thumb.

"Why do you keep dodging?" Reiji snapped. He faked another punch and when Kosuke sidestepped Reiji moved with him and struck him across the face. The boy rolled with the punch and caught Reiji's arm. The boy then flung Reiji over his shoulder. The fire user landed on his hands and flipped back to his feet. "You know, you're not half bad," Reiji admitted reluctantly.

Kosuke flashed him a grin. "Thanks. You're good to."

Reiji turned back to face him again. "Unfortunately, this is where it ends." He reached down and pulled two hook swords from his back. He spun them casually as he stared down the other boy. "My turn," Reiji said calmly. He sprinted forward spinning the hook swords more rapidly.

Kosuke raised his hand into the air. Reiji prepared himself for a jutsu, but then…

"I surrender this fight," said Kosuke casually.

Reiji stopped where he was and just stared at the other boy astonished. Kosuke smiled at him.

"That was fun," he said. "Let's do it again some time."

Reiji watched him go. "_What was that all about?_"

* * *

"Now you're getting serious," Tatsuki observed. "Right then. No more holding back!" She pulled out six kunai from her weapon bag and slipped them between her fingers. She then stood straight and crossed her arms in front of her. Suddenly, she streaked forward.

Hikaru barely had any time to react. He swung Shadow forward and the puppet blocked Tatsuki's attack on his arm. She swung around and kicked Shadow aside. Once more she shot towards Hikaru. He brought Shadow around and sent him towards Tatsuki's back. A kunai shot from the puppet's mouth. Tatsuki back flipped out of the way over Shadow's head and the kunai flew towards Hikaru. He disconnected a string from Shadow and reconnected it to the kunai, slowing the blade down and throwing it once again at Tatsuki. She deflected it easily with her own kunai and landed a short distance away.

"_This is getting to close for comfort,_" Hikaru thought. "_She's dodging and blocking everything with ease. And she's not even panting. This girl…I think she's had even more training then me!_" He watched Tatsuki's movements carefully. She seemed to be rocking back and forth on her heels. "_Come on…make a move already!_" Tatsuki didn't do anything, however, except hum a little tune. "_Fine!_" Hikaru glared at her. "_Then I'll come to you! Time to do something unexpected._"

He twitched one of his fingers and Shadow burst into pieces. His head, arms, and legs rose into the air. Small needles and blades popped out of each of these pieces. The puppet's middle piece floated down to the ground gently. Tatsuki stopped rocking and humming and examined the puppet curiously. The pieces floated together in almost a lazy fashion. They turned so that all of their points were aimed at Tatsuki. All at once the pieces shot towards her.

Tatsuki snorted with derision. "Way to predictable," she muttered. She ran forward at the blades.

Hikaru's eyes widened in horror. "_What is she doing? Is she trying to get herself killed?_"

Apparently, their chunin was thinking the same thing and he started forward.

"Stop where you are!" Tatsuki shouted. The chunin froze. Both he and Hikaru had looks of astonishment on their faces. Tatsuki ran into the midst of the blades.

Hikaru sighed. "_Have it your way then._"

He twitched his fingers and the blades continued on their path, heading towards Tatsuki. She sprang into the air and twisted around, her arms blurring. She blocked each of the blades that were coming at her with her kunai that she was holding and she flung the three kunai in her left hand at Hikaru. The kunai came in quick, but at the last second Shadow's middle section shot up and intercepted them. However, Hikaru wasn't done. Four more blades popped out of the middle piece and it began spinning like a saw. Hikaru sent it forward and Tatsuki had to yank her head back to keep from being decapitated. She landed and leapt back once more as the puppet pieces drove in to try and stab her. Also, the middle section went back in front of Hikaru, although this time it stayed in the air in front of him.

Tatsuki looked at the different pieces of the puppet that were floating around her. "_I get it. He controls each of the pieces of his puppet with his right hand while his left hand controls that middle piece which he uses as a shield. He's definitely formidable. With my fighting style I'm going to have to get right next to him to defeat him, but with him using this jutsu that's going to be practically impossible. Unless I do that jutsu, but I'd rather lose then show off that jutsu in this "play fight"._"

Hikaru stared at the girl curiously. "What's taking you so long? Ready to give up?"

Tatsuki smiled at him again. "No. Just thinking of how I'm going to win." She reached back and pulled another three kunai from her weapons bag to replace kunai that she had already thrown. She ran forward once more.

Hikaru pulled his puppets pieces around to face her and they dove in again. Tatsuki waited until the last second and then she spun, her kunai knocking all of the puppet pieces away. She threw a single kunai, from her right hand, at Hikaru, which the center of Shadow blocked. In that instant she leapt right next to the middle piece and plunged her right hand's kunai into the middle piece of Shadow, pushing it to the ground. She stabbed at Hikaru with her left hand's kunai and he leapt back. The other pieces of Shadow shot down at Tatsuki and…slammed into her back.

Tatsuki's eyes widened in surprise and she fell forward onto her face. Hikaru stopped and stared at her.

"_Did…I actually hit her?_"

Suddenly, smoke appeared around Tatsuki's body and when it cleared all that remained was a log.

Hikaru's eyes widened. "_She got away!_" Before he could move, six kunai slid down and his throat.

"Got you," Tatsuki said from right next to his ear.

"Winner: Tatsuki!" their chunin called out.

The girl pulled her arms back, slid her kunai away, and began walking off. Hikaru spun around.

"Wait!"

Tatsuki looked back over her shoulder at him. "What?"

Hikaru walked over to Shadow's middle piece and pulled out the kunai stuck in it. Then he walked over and handed them to the girl.

"You're good," Hikaru commented.

"Thanks, you're good to," Tatsuki replied with a smile. She took her kunai back and walked away.

Hikaru seemed dazed for a moment, but then he went over and began cleaning up Shadow. As he picked up Shadow's head, he sighed, "You're really busted up," he said to the inanimate object. "This is going to take a while to fix…ah well."

Ichiro walked over to Hikaru and thumped him on the back. "You did good man," he said. "But that girl, she's kinda scary."

"She's not bad…" Hikaru said absentmindedly.

Ichiro grinned and slung his arm around Hikaru's shoulders. "Ahhh…does my little buddy have a crush?"

Hikaru frowned at him. "What are you talking about?"

Before Ichiro could answer Manashi called them all back to the classroom.

_End Note:_

_Ugh...this chapter took me a while to get up. I really missed my deadline this time. I blame it on laziness, college finals, and a whole lot of interruptions. But on a more serious note, I meant for this chapter to be longer, but what I had planned would have made this chapter really, really long and so I cut a huge chunk out of it. Hopefully I'll have the fifth chapter up by Wednesday. Anyways, please leave a review. It'll definitely help motivate me. Thanks for reading. _


	5. Scroll Thief

Chapter 5: Scroll Thief

Hikaru sat in the living room with Kankuro standing over him. Hikaru had a scroll laid out in front of himself, and Shadow was lying on top of it.

"Alright," Kankuro said. "Begin!"

Hikaru formed several hand signs and slammed both of his hands on Shadow. There was an explosion of smoke and Shadow was gone. Hikaru then bit off the end of his thumb and spread blood across the scroll. Once more there was an explosion of smoke and Shadow was lying on top of the scroll again.

Kankuro smiled. "Good work Hikaru. You've completed this training."

"Thanks for your help dad," Hikaru said. He once more formed hand signs and resealed Shadow back into the scroll.

"Now all you've got to do is continue practicing with what you know so that you can connect your chakra strings the instant you release the puppet," Kankuro said.

Hikaru nodded. "I'll do that. I do have one more request."

"What is it?" Kankuro asked.

"I want to see how strong I've become," Hikaru said. "I want to battle you."

"Battle me?" Kankuro looked a little surprised. "Well, alright. But I want to see that new puppet of yours."

Hikaru smiled. "Oh, you will."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Hikaru found himself in a training building facing Kankuro.

"Are you ready for this?" Kankuro asked.

"Yeah," said Hikaru. "But why did you bring only one puppet?"

Kankuro smiled as he pulled a scroll off of his back. "I didn't think I'd need any others. You're only an academy student after all. Even with two puppets I don't think you'll be able to win against my one."

"Now you're just being arrogant," Hikaru grumbled.

"No, I'm speaking from years of experience," Kankuro replied. "Now, are we going to get this show on the road or what?" He opened his scroll, bit off the end of his thumb, and spread blood across it. As usual there was an explosion of smoke and Kankuro stood there with his chakra strings attached to Crow.

"Fine," Hikaru said. "Be that way." He pulled out Shadow's scroll from inside his cloak and summoned his puppet.

"Let's go!" Kankuro said. He snapped Crow into position and sent him at Hikaru.

The boy quickly responded by having Shadow rush at Crow. The two puppets collided and wrestled in the air. Within moments Crow overpowered Shadow and brought him crashing to the ground, where he held him down.

"Come on Hikaru," Kankuro said. "This is ridiculous. Shadow can't beat Crow. He's just a copy of Crow and a weaker one at that. Summon your other puppet."

"Who says I haven't already?" Hikaru replied with a wicked grin.

"Wha…" Kankuro began.

Suddenly, a puppet dropped down from the ceiling at Crow. It was Mantis.

Kankuro quickly pulled back on his chakra strings, trying to make Crow retreat.

"I'm not letting you get away!" said Hikaru.

Shadow twisted his body around in Crow's grasp and seized Crow, forcing him to stay where he was. Mantis dropped down and plunged both of his blade arms into Crow's back, impaling both him and Shadow and trapping him.

"YES!" Hikaru cheered.

Kankuro smiled. "Good job. Now what are you going to do?"

Hikaru stopped. "Ummm…I hadn't thought it through that far yet…" he grinned weakly.

Kankuro laughed. "Well, that was a nice trick you pulled there and you did technically beat Crow, even though it took two puppets to hold him down…" he shrugged. "I guess we'll call it a draw for now."

"Okay!" said Hikaru happily.

As they untangled their puppets Kankuro glanced over at Hikaru approvingly. "_He's doing so well. This boy is going to do great things._"

_Two Weeks Later…_

It took a while before Kankuro left on another mission. When he finally did, Hikaru went back to the scroll warehouse. He continued working on copying the puppet scroll. After a while, he grew tired from writing and was leaning back, stretching. Behind him a dark shape slid down the wall and pulled a scroll out. Hikaru's light flickered and for a moment the thing was reveled. It was a man! The man watched Hikaru carefully as he pulled out the scroll. After he was finished, he slid back away into the wall. Hikaru didn't notice any of this, but as he was reclining he heard a muffled thumping sound. Quickly he shoved the puppet scroll back in its slot, blew out his lantern, and swept his cloak around himself, his tools, and the two scrolls. His cloak changed color to match his surroundings and he waited in the dark. He saw a small figure appear and that person began walking quietly through the rows of scrolls.

Hikaru squinted at the person as whoever it was walked by. He couldn't quite make out who, or what, the person was. The person stopped by a rack of scrolls and Hikaru heard a gasp. The person spun around and raced back for the hole that Hikaru had come in by. He followed silently behind and watched as the person slipped out the hole in the wall.

Hikaru stood there for about a minute wondering what had just happened when he heard a slam from somewhere behind him. Two ANBU, with lanterns that were lit, ran into the room. They looked around the room and spotted the rack that the unknown person had looked at. They ran over to the rack and Hikaru, who was by this point curious, wandered over to look. From the light of their lanterns he could now see that a scroll was missing from its rack. The two ANBU immediately ran back out of the room and Hikaru was once more left in the dark.

"_What's going on?_" he wondered. "_Did someone steal the scroll?_"

Hikaru went out the hole and walked back out onto the street. He noticed the two ANBU from earlier were talking with some other ANBU. He ducked back into the alleyway and once more put on his cloak. He moved around the building as slowly as possible and maneuvered himself over to the ANBU.

"-slot was empty?" one of the ANBU was saying.

"Right," one of the two Hikaru had seen in the scroll room was speaking. "Go inform the Kazekage. We'll go inform the other ANBU and go after the thief." They all turned and dashed away.

Hikaru was about to move off when he spotted another ANBU standing in the shadows watching the others leave. This ANBU was about Hikaru's size and wore a cat-faced mask. It was the ANBU from before! The one who Hikaru had seen coming out of the alleyway when he had first found out about the scroll room. The ANBU started to run off.

"_This looks suspicious…why didn't that ANBU come out and speak with the others?_" Hikaru thought. "_Maybe he knows something!_" He ran off after the ANBU leaving the street deserted.

A moment later, a man appeared out of the wall. He was short, wearing a completely sand-colored outfit, which covered him completely except his eyes, and a foreign headband.

He grinned to himself. "_Stupid ANBU. They didn't check everything before leaving. Otherwise I would have been caught. They didn't even find that boy who was in there._"

He looked around cautiously, and then ran off in a different direction.

* * *

The lone ANBU raced through the desert that surrounded the village. The ANBU looked around trying to see through the sand. It was an unusually windy day, which made visibility rather difficult.

Hikaru watched the ANBU carefully. "_I guess I was right. He does know something, otherwise, why would he come out here?_ _I better catch him and see what he's up to._"

As the ANBU ran, he felt as if someone was watching him. Suddenly, the ground began to shake and a strange form burst out of the sand from behind the ANBU. Before the ANBU could respond he was grabbed and lifted a few feet into the air.

"Gotcha," Hikaru said. He lifted himself off the ground, where he had been laying down, and stared cautiously up at the ANBU, who was being held by Shadow.

The ANBU glanced down at Hikaru. "What do you think you're doing?" he snapped in a rather deep voice.

"_I guess he is male,_" Hikaru thought. "I could ask you the same question," Hikaru shot back. "You know something about that robbery of the scroll, don't you?"

The ANBU froze. "What are you talking about? I don't know anything!"

"Oh yeah? Hikaru countered. "Then why were you hiding from those other ANBU?"

"That's none of your business!" the ANBU yelled. "Let…me…GO!" he struggled in vain against Shadow's grip.

"You know what I think?" Hikaru said. "I think you're the thief!"

"No!" the ANBU sounded a little panicky now. "You've got it all wrong!"

"Do I?" Hikaru said scathingly. "I don't think so. But first, why don't you take off that mask?" He had Shadow lower the ANBU to the ground and he stepped forward, reaching for the mask. The ANBU thrashed about, but Hikaru managed to catch a hold of the mask and he lifted it off. His eyes widened in shock. It was Tatsuki!

Not far from where they stood, the short man was running. He was panting heavily. "_Maybe I should revise my opinion of those ANBU. They were everywhere! I barely got away…but at least I made it out of the village. Now I'm home free!_" He looked up and his eyes widened. Not far ahead was a young girl, who was wearing an ANBU outfit, and a young boy, who had the girl trapped in the grip of a puppet. Both of the children glanced over at the approaching man in surprise.

"_Who's that?_ Hikaru wondered.

Tatsuki looked at the man's headband and noticed that this man from the Village Hidden in the Rocks, however there was a slash through the design showing he was a rogue ninja. "Hikaru!" Tatsuki said. "That man, he's the thief!"

"What?" Hikaru looked over at her.

"Get out of my way!" the man shouted. He began forming hand signs quickly. _Lightning Style: Massive Shock Jutsu! _The man flung his hands forward and two lightning bolts curved from each of his palms towards each other. The two lightning bolts connected and created a large ball of lighting.

"Get out of the way!" Tatsuki shouted at Hikaru.

Hikaru leapt to the side just in time, pulling Shadow, who was still holding Tatsuki, with him. The ball of lightning rushed past, blasting sand everywhere. The rock ninja used that moment to run on past the two children.

"Let me go Hikaru!" Tatsuki shouted. "We can't let him escape!"

Hikaru looked undecided for a moment. "_What if this is a trick?_" Then, he nodded. "Alright. Go get him!"

He had Shadow release Tatsuki and she immediately streaked after the escaping man. Tatsuki ran in front of the ninja and he stopped, surprised by her speed. She drew kunai and, holding three in each hand, hurled herself at him. The man barely managed to draw a kunai of his own in time to block her incredibly fast attacks.

Hikaru watched, stunned as Tatsuki attacked the ninja, managing to match him blow for blow in taijutsu. "_That man has to be at least a chunin,_" Hikaru realized. "_And she's actually keeping up with him! She even seems to be overpowering him!_"

The rock ninja was being driven back, by a little girl! This was for him infuriating, not to mention embarrassing. After sneaking out of the Sand Village and dodging ANBU patrols he was being defeated by a mere child! He let out a yell of frustration and swung his kunai down with all his strength. Tatsuki blocked with all six of her kunai, but the sheer force of the blow sent her flying. The man pulled out a scroll and opened it causing it to immediately summon its contents. A wave of earth was poured out onto the sand. The man quickly began forming hand signs.

_Earth Style: Mud Golem Jutsu!_

The earth began gathering together and formed into a ten foot human-shaped creature. Its body was lumpy and not proportionate in any sense of the word. It had arms and legs, with no fingers or toes in sight. It did have a head, which was placed right onto its body with no neck, but it had no facial features to speak of.

The golem swung its one of its arms down at Tatsuki, who was still stunned from the blow the rock ninja had dealt her. Just before the golem could crush her, Shadow swept in and grabbed her, pulling her out of the way. As he did, the golem's fist came down on one of Shadow's legs, tearing it off. Shadow flew Tatsuki back to Hikaru and the puppet placed her gently on the ground.

"Tatsuki!" Hikaru said nervously. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" she pulled herself up into a sitting position. "He's stronger then I thought."

Hikaru nodded. "Yep. You take a break. I'll fight him for now."

Tatsuki looked over at him, shocked. "Why? I beat you and he's stronger then me! What can you do?"

"Tatsuki…" Hikaru stood up and faced the rock ninja. "When we fought, I wasn't at full strength. Now, I've got a few more tricks to try out."

Tatsuki watched Hikaru step forward. "_He's actually going to fight! But he's just an academy student! I've got to help him!_" She stood up shakily. "Hikaru…I can't let you do this alone."

Hikaru glanced back at her and flashed her a grin. "Thanks. Let's do this!" He swung out one arm and yanked Shadow into position in front of him. "And don't hold back like you were doing in our battle."

Tatsuki looked over at him quickly. "_How did he know about that?_"

The rock ninja watched in amazement as the two children advanced on him. "What are you thinking?" he called. "I'll kill you both if you interfere!"

Hikaru didn't reply. Instead he pulled out a kunai with an explosive note on it and flung it at the golem. The kunai struck the golem and exploded taking out a huge chunk of the creature. However, the golem began to reform and within a few moments was back to the way it had been.

"I'm going in!" Tatsuki said. She raced off at an angle that would take her around the golem.

"Oh no you don't!" the rock ninja shouted. He formed more hand signs. _Lightning Style: Piercing Bolts! _Several thin bolts of lighting fired from his fingers right at Tatsuki. She saw them coming and spun to the side to dodge. Suddenly, she found herself facing the golem! It swung one of its arms at her, but she managed to roll away and found herself back near Hikaru.

"That didn't work to well," he observed.

"Hey! I don't see you doing anything!" she snapped back at him.

"Calm down," Hikaru replied, not even looking at her. "I know how I can get you near him if you'll just listen. That golem makes it like we're fighting two opponents. And I noticed you are moving a little slower then before you got struck by that man over there, which means you can't get past both of them." As he spoke, he reached inside his cloak and pulled out Mantis's scroll. "I'll distract the golem, while you get in close to that guy, okay?" Hikaru said. Not waiting for an answer, he spread blood across Mantis's scroll and summoned the puppet.

Mantis shot forward towards the golem. The golem tried to strike Mantis, but the puppet dodged the blow and cut off one of the golem's legs, making the creature stumble.

"Now Tatsuki!" Hikaru yelled.

She needed no second bidding. In an instant Tatsuki was past the golem and running towards the enemy ninja. The rock ninja saw her coming and pulled out a kunai in preparation.

"_Not this time,_" Tatsuki thought. She dove in and attacked viciously, driving the man back. "_This time I'm fighting with all my strength!_"

"Give up already girl!" he said angrily.

He reached back and pulled out a second kunai. Then he raised the second kunai above his head and brought it down on Tatsuki. Just before she would be struck a small smirk flickered across her face. He saw the smirk, but it was too late. Tatsuki swung up her own six kunai and they connected with his. Lightning element chakra rushed through her kunai and poured onto his, electrocuting his body. The man screamed and he fell back.

The golem, whom Hikaru was distracting with both of his puppets, halted in its assault, and Hikaru took that moment to look over at the man, who was writhing on the ground in pain. "_What just happened?_" Hikaru wondered.

"_I got him!_" Tatsuki thought gleefully. The man lay on the ground, twitching. Tatsuki looked over her shoulder at Hikaru with a smile. "I got him!" she called. Then she noticed Hikaru shouting something at her, but she couldn't quite hear what he said. "What?" she said loudly.

"You should really be more careful, little girl."

Tatsuki could turn back around in time before she was struck.

Hikaru's warning came too late. He watched as the man punched her. Behind him he could hear the golem moving again. He whirled away just in time as the golem's fist crashed down where he had just been. He glared up at the creature and he pulled Shadow and Mantis back around to fight.

Tatsuki looked up to see the man towering over her. He lifted his foot and brought it down on her stomach. There was a sharp cracking sound. Tatsuki cried out in pain. The man raised a kunai high in the air above his head, a wicked grin on his face.

"It's over!" he said triumphantly.

Tatsuki thought she could hear Hikaru's voice in the background, calling her name, but it was too late. She closed her eyes and waited for death to come. As she did, she thought one thing.

"_I'm so sorry I have failed you…father…_"

Hikaru watched the man standing over her. "TATSUKI!" he screamed. He swung Shadow around and sent him at the man. As the man's arm fell Hikaru realized he wouldn't make it in time.

Suddenly, a blur twisted down and there was a loud clanging sound. The rock ninja was blown back and a different man now crouched over Tatsuki. It was Zaru!

Instantly relief filled Hikaru. "_We're saved!_"

Zaru examined Tatsuki for a moment. He decided her wounds weren't currently life threatening, and he stood to face the rock ninja, who was standing up slowly.

"Who…who are you?" the rock ninja gasped.

"I'm Zaru."

"You mean, Zaru the "Thousand Blades" Ninja?" the rock ninja stumbled back in horror.

Zaru took a step forward. "You can't escape," he proclaimed.

"G-golem!" the rock ninja cried out. "KILL HIM!"

The golem turned away from Mantis, who it was still fighting, and ran towards Zaru. Zaru turned to face it and drew his sword. He closed his eyes and lowered his head. Then he swung his sword around in a circle in front of himself. The golem bore down on him and was about to crush him when he disappeared. A moment later, Zaru appeared on the other side of the golem. The golem stumbled and dispersed into what could have been one thousand pieces.

"Zaru-sensei!" Hikaru called. "That won't do any good! It'll just reform!" And sure enough, a moment later, the golem did begin to reform.

Zaru ignored the golem, but instead fixed his gaze on the rock ninja. He ran forward and the rock ninja, who, realizing he couldn't get away in time, held out his kunai to defend himself. It didn't do him any good. Zaru's sword sliced clean through the kunai and he cut a line across the rock shinobi's cheek. Zaru moved his sword to the enemy shinobi's neck.

"Surrender," he ordered.

The shinobi simply glared at him, all traces of fear gone. "I will never give up."

"Have it your way then," Zaru said. He swung his sword, decapitating the enemy, and he sheathed his sword a moment before the head landed on the ground. Zaru leaned over and pulled a scroll out of the shinobi's pocket. He unrolled it, nodded, and slipped it into a pouch at his side.

As soon as the shinobi had died, his golem collapsed completely. Zaru walked over to Tatsuki and picked her up. He then headed over to Hikaru, who had slumped to the ground, exhausted.

"You did well kid."

Hikaru looked up to see Zaru smiling down at him.

"Now let's get back to the village," Zaru said. "You have some explaining to do."

* * *

Hikaru stood nervously before Gaara, who looked down at him with his usual emotionless gaze. Tatsuki had been taken to the hospital and was being examined. Hikaru had not doubt in his mind that she would be alright. Now it was up to Gaara to decide what would be done with him.

Gaara watched Hikaru, who was shuffling his feet nervously. "You snuck into a scroll warehouse, attacked a missing-nin, and nearly got yourself killed." The Kazekage sighed. "You know, I really hate these kinds of cases. They're a complete waste of my time." Gaara walked back around his desk and sat down.

"Um…" Hikaru glanced up at Gaara for a moment. "What's going to happen to me?"

"You?" Gaara said. "You'll be sent home. After you promise to never go back into that scroll warehouse again, and never get involved in any more investigations around the village. If you do not, we will have to place you under arrest until further notice."

"_He_ _puts it kind of bluntly,_" Hikaru thought. "Of course," he said. "I promise."

Gaara spun his chair around so he was looking out his window. "But don't think you're getting off that easily. I'd hate to see what Kankuro has to say about this."

Hikaru winced. He had forgotten about Kankuro. He sighed. "_May as well get it over with._" He headed for the door.

"Oh, and good work out there," Gaara said.

Hikaru stopped; his hand was on the door handle. He smiled slightly. "Thank you."

* * *

It was the next morning after the battle. Hikaru was headed over to the hospital to visit Tatsuki. It turned out that she had a few scratches, some bruises, and a broken rib. She had been kept overnight and would probably stay a few more days to recover.

He himself had come away with no injuries at all. His puppets had gotten the worst of it. One of Mantis's blades had been bent while slicing the golem and one of Shadow's legs had been busted.

Kankuro had been lenient. He had berated Hikaru and then had him up for half the night doing endurance training. When he had finally gone to bed, Hikaru didn't even remember his head hitting the pillow. All in all, he had gotten off lightly. He had decided that he was never going back to the scroll room, at least, not unless he was given permission to go inside. He did, however, still have that unfinished copy of the puppet scroll stashed under a floorboard in his room, but even that would have to wait until everything calmed down again.

Hikaru reached Tatsuki's hospital room and knocked.

"Come in," Tatsuki called weakly. As Hikaru walked into the room, she grimaced. "I wondered when I would be seeing you." She covered her mouth quickly and coughed into her hand.

"If you're not up to it I can come back later," Hikaru said.

"No," Tatsuki said. "I better just get this over with."

Hikaru pulled up a chair beside her hospital bed and sat down. He fiddled with his hands for a moment before asking, "How are you feeling?"

Tatsuki shrugged. "Not to bad actually. Just got my organs crushed by that guy's big foot."

"I'm sorry," Hikaru said quietly. "I couldn't get to you in time to save you…"

"Hey," Tatsuki said quickly. "It wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have tried to go up against him anyways. My orders said to let the other ANBU handle it. I was just supposed to locate him."

"Could you tell me about that?" Hikaru asked. "I mean, why are you part of the ANBU?"

"I can tell you," Tatsuki said slyly. "But then I would have to kill you." She laughed at the look of alarm that crossed Hikaru's face. "I'm just joking," she said. "Actually, it was my dad's idea."

"Your dad?" Hikaru said.

"Yeah…my dad," Tatsuki sighed. "He was the one who thought this all up. He's a high ranking ANBU and he's gotten real close to the guys who make all the decisions. Anyways, like I was saying, this was his idea. He thought that if a child was trained from an early age to be an ANBU, that child would be ideal for undercover missions. As his daughter, I was chosen for the task. I was five when he began training me. However, I only just joined the ANBU a year ago. It was all kept secret. Only my father, the higher-ups in the ANBU, and myself, of course, knew of any of this. I just got my first official mission not so long ago. We believed that someone was getting in and out of the village without anyone knowing. So I was assigned to look for this person. A more recent development came when we learned that this person had apparently broken into one of the scroll warehouses. ANBU were quickly stationed around the warehouses to guard them, and I was given orders to make regular checks on each of the warehouses to make sure nothing was stolen."

"Wow," Hikaru said. "That's…amazing. You got into the ANBU at such a young age."

"Yeah, but I failed," Tatsuki hung her head sadly. "I just couldn't beat that guy…" Hikaru burst out laughing and Tatsuki looked up at him, angrily. "What's so funny?"

Hikaru adopted a serious look on his face. "I couldn't defeat him. A chunin, and I am an academy student. Not to mention he's over a foot taller then me, is probably ten years older, and weighs over a hundred pounds more then I do. I must be weak…"

Tatsuki leaned over and slapped Hikaru on the arm. "Stop that!" she said, the corner of her mouth twitching.

"So how's your dad with all this?" Hikaru asked.

Tatsuki sighed. "He's in trouble, obviously. Him and all the other people who knew what was going on were called in to be questioned by the Kazekage. Turns out they didn't even tell him what was going on. Apparently, he's more then a little annoyed with them."

"Tough," Hikaru said. "I know the Kazekage. He can be nice when he wants to, but even then he's scary."

Tatsuki stared at him in awe. "You know the Kazekage?"

"Yeah," Hikaru smiled. "He's my dad's brother. Well, adopted dad anyway."

"You mean you're the boy who Kankuro took in?" Tatsuki said.

"You certainly get around don't you?" Hikaru asked with a grin.

Tatsuki shrugged. "Not really. My father just knows a lot. And he tells me things." She looked sad. "At one time I was happy about that. I felt special because I knew so much. Then I learned I was going to be part of the ANBU. I just felt so strong…I thought I was invincible. But now, all I can think is maybe I was just a pawn in his schemes."

"Don't think that," Hikaru said quickly.

"Why?" Tatsuki asked.

"Because, like you said," Hikaru said, smiling slightly. "He told you secrets that he had learned. That means he must have trusted you. And besides, you don't just tell pawns stuff like that. I think he does care for you, and wants you to succeed. By giving you a chance to be part of the ANBU, he was giving you a future to look forward to."

"Maybe…" Tatsuki conceded. Hikaru could tell by her expression that she was still uncomfortable. "Hikaru?" Tatsuki said after a moment.

"Yes?"

"Aren't you going to explain to me why you were in there at the scroll warehouse?"

"Oh!" Hikaru grinned. "Sure. But first…" He walked over to the door and closed it, and then he turned back to face her. "Can you keep a secret?"

* * *

Hikaru had finished the telling of his tale. He had not held back any details. He had even told her about the scroll he had stashed in his room. Now, he was just waiting to see what her reaction would be.

Tatsuki lay there, silent for several minutes, before saying anything. "You know, I should tell the Kazekage or the ANBU about this, don't you?"

Hikaru sighed. "Yeah, but I was kind of hoping you wouldn't."

Tatsuki looked over at him calmly. "And you do realize, that I'll never say a word, don't you?"

Hikaru was shocked. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "Isn't that part of your job?"

"True," Tatsuki mused over this for another moment. "But I'd rather keep my friend then lose him over something like this."

Hikaru breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Tatsuki," he said. "I just had to tell someone, anyone! I was tired of keeping it quiet."

Tatsuki nodded. "I know the feeling. By the way, in your story you mentioned that you saw a person come into the scroll room and then leave just before the ANBU came in. I think that person was me. I was doing my rounds of the warehouses when I found that scroll slot empty. So I wrote a quick note and left it with the ANBU outside, without revealing myself. But I do have one question, you saw me, but I didn't see you. How did you hide?"

Hikaru grinned. "Easy." He stepped over to a wall and swirled his cloak around himself. A moment later, he was camouflaged against the wall. He heard Tatsuki gasp with shock.

"That's amazing!" she said. "Where did you get that?"

"I have no idea," Hikaru said, as he pulled his cloak off.

"Ah, the amnesia," said Tatsuki. "I forgot."

Hikaru chuckled. "You really do know a lot don't you?"

Tatsuki smiled. "Yeah. More then you realize."

Hikaru stood up, preparing to leave. "You just take care of yourself," he said.

"I will," Tatsuki assured him.

_End Note: _

_Yeah, yeah. I know. This chapter seemed like Deja-vu to me also. Anyways, like I said a couple days ago, I would have this chapter up by Wednesday. I was kinda trying to restore some faith after taking so long with the fourth chapter. So I had two days to take that piece of a chapter I had ripped off of chapter four and turn it into something worth reading. Once more, please leave a review before you go. They really help motivate me. _


	6. Teams

Chapter 6: Teams

Hikaru's time in the academy passed quickly. He did not build any more puppets, but instead mastered control over the two he already had. He also added some more weapons to his puppets as time went on. He continued training with Zaru and learned a great deal about kenjutsu. In the academy he practiced taijutsu and learned basic ninjutsu such as transformation, substitution, and the clone jutsu. Not once did he look at the scroll he had copied and hidden under his floorboards. He had decided that the techniques written on the scroll were too great for him at his current level and wanted to wait a while before learning from them. Besides, Kankuro had kept a close eye on Hikaru and made sure he stayed away from the scroll warehouse so he didn't have much time for secret training anyways.

Hikaru wasn't the only one who had gotten stronger. Ichiro had become proficient in taijutsu and was at the top of their class in chakra control. Tatsuki also trained a lot in her spare time. She was one of the strongest taijutsu fighters in their class as well as one of the few who knew, and could control, her elemental chakra abilities.

All three had grown up significantly; however, Ichiro had grown the most. He was now five and a half feet tall and was still growing with no signs of stopping, which made him tower over his twelve year old classmates. Tatsuki was also a lot taller and had actually stopped wearing a shinobi uniform to class. She instead wore casual clothes like the rest of the class, which as Ichiro once said, "Made her look a little more like a normal preteen". This, of course, earned him a thump on the head. Hikaru was still the shortest. He still hadn't hit his growth spurt and was growing tired of Ichiro ruffling his hair and grinning down at him.

* * *

Masashi Kishimoto stood at the front of the class with a broad smile across his face. "It has come," he declared dramatically.

At that moment, predictably, Touta Matsuda came slouching into the room. He glanced at the teacher, who had paused in the middle of his speech, and then Touta walked to his seat near the back of the room.

Masashi continued as if there hadn't been an interruption. "The time for your graduation is upon us. It will be quite simple. All I want you to do for now, however, is wait here until another instructor comes and calls your name. Also…thank you. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with most of you." His eyes narrowed as they went over Touta, who yawned and pretended not to notice. "I know that many of you will do well in the days to come and I wish you the best of luck." He then left the room. As soon as the door shut, the students began talking amongst themselves.

Ichiro leaned back in his chair. He was, of course, sitting next to Hikaru. "Another weird speech from the psycho teacher himself," he said.

Tatsuki looked over at Ichiro from where she was sitting on Hikaru's other side. "He is nice though," she said.

Ichiro shrugged. "He's still psycho. The guy holds a kunai at your throat if you talk in class."

Hikaru smiled at his friends banter. Tatsuki had joined their group after she had gotten out of the hospital. Ichiro had accepted her easily. He had acted as if she had always been there and included her in every conversation. The three of them had trained together a lot over the years. They worked well together. Hikaru hoped they would all be on the same team, but he knew it was very possible that they wouldn't.

It wasn't long before another chunin instructor came in. "I will be calling you out individually," he said. "You will then follow me and I'll show you where you will be tested."

He called out the first person's name, a boy who Hikaru had never spoken to, and he led him out of the room. Five minutes later, the chunin was back and he took the next person. Soon, Hikaru was left with only a few other people. Ichiro and Tatsuki had already been called. Finally, Hikaru heard his name. He stood up and followed the chunin out into the hallway. He was led into another room where Masashi and a couple other chunin instructors sat at a table, which they had placed several forehead protectors. The chunin who had led him there stood in a corner and waited. Masashi glanced up at Hikaru and smiled.

"Hello Hikaru," he said pleasantly. "For your final exam we would like you to present three of the basic jutsu you were taught here at the academy. First off, do the transformation jutsu."

Hikaru grinned. This would be easier then he had thought. He quickly formed a hand sign and there was an explosion of smoke. A moment later, a second Masashi stood where Hikaru had been a moment ago.

Masashi smiled and the other chunin nodded. "Great! So you have that one down," Masashi said. "Next is the clone jutsu. One will be sufficient, but if you can summon more that would be acceptable."

Hikaru transformed back and formed another hand sign. Two clones appeared on either side of him.

"Not bad," Masashi mused. "And finally, the substitution jutsu." He pulled out a log from behind the table he was sitting at and tossed it out in front of Hikaru.

Hikaru rapidly began forming hand signs. He finished and disappeared in an explosion of smoke, which also covered the log. A moment later, the smoke cleared and Hikaru was now where the log had been a moment before while the log appeared where Hikaru had been.

"You're done," said Masashi. "Congratulations, you've passed."

Hikaru grinned. "Thanks Masashi-sensei." He walked up to the table where they presented him with his forehead protector. He was then escorted out of the room. Once he was out of the room, the chunin instructor turned to him.

"You can go outside," he said. "All of the others who were called have already left." He then headed off, back to the classroom, leaving Hikaru on his own.

Hikaru stared down at the forehead protector in his hands. "_Now I'm a true Sand Shinobi!_" He tied it carefully around his head and then headed outside. Many of the other kids were still there, including Ichiro and Tatsuki. Hikaru noticed, with a burst of happiness, that they too were both wearing forehead protectors.

"You graduated too!" Ichiro said. He clapped Hikaru on the back.

Tatsuki smiled at Hikaru. "How about we all go out and celebrate?" she suggested.

"We could," Hikaru said. "But then again, shouldn't we train more?"

Ichiro groaned. "Is that all you think about?" he asked. "Training? Come on! Have some fun for once!"

After a few more minutes of arguing, Hikaru conceded. They all headed over a restaurant that they liked and began to discuss what they thought it would be like to go on missions.

"I hope we don't have to deal with to many D-rank missions," Tatsuki said. "I heard from my father that they're boring and usually have to do with random tasks around the village."

"I suppose that is their way of promoting teamwork," Ichiro said. "Maybe they'll let us skip to C-rank missions if we can fight really well. After all, we already work well as a team."

"I just hope we're on the same team," Hikaru said sadly.

The other two looked over at him, shocked.

"Not on the same team?" Ichiro said. "But…"

"They can do it you know," Hikaru said. "We don't pick who we're with. We just have to hope."

They sat there quietly. In the booth next to theirs, a sand shinobi, who was holding a cup of tea, was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"_So, they want to be on the same team, do they?_" the shinobi mused. "_I wonder how well they work together…_"

By this time, the three genin had finished their meal and Hikaru stood up.

"Ichiro," he said. "I know you don't care for training all that much, but I'm still heading out to practice. Are either of you coming?"

"Sure," Tatsuki smiled. "I've got a new jutsu I want to try out in a combative situation."

Ichiro sighed. "Fine. I'll come along. I suppose I should be there to make sure you don't kill each other."

They all left the restaurant together. The Sand shinobi watched them leave out of the corner of his eye. He finished his tea, and then followed them.

* * *

Hikaru dove backwards as several kunai shot over him. One of them sliced him on the arm. He landed lightly on his feet, in a crouching position, and clapped a hand over the place where he was cut, wincing. Immediately, Ichiro was at his side. He reached forward, moving Hikaru's hand out of the way, and placed his own hand on the cut. A soft green glow covered the cut and it slowly began to heal. Ichiro looked over at Tatsuki, who had a smug look on her face, and frowned.

"You didn't have to go that far!" Ichiro scolded. "Its good thing he dodged otherwise his injuries could have been far worse!"

"Oh, don't make such a fuss," Tatsuki said dismissively. "I'm only doing it because you're here. And I know how quick he is on his feet. There really wasn't any danger."

"Wasn't any danger?" Ichiro shook his head in disbelief.

Tatsuki's jutsu involved filling her kunai with her lightning chakra so that when she threw them at her opponent they would pierce through any object that was in the way. Hikaru had been hiding behind a tree at the moment when she had tried this tactic. He had, of course, barely managed to dodge in time.

Hikaru glanced up at Tatsuki and he grinned. "Nice one," he commented. "I notice you can actually keep your chakra in your kunai now. It isn't blowing up in your face the moment you let go."

Tatsuki shrugged. "Dad has been putting me through a lot of chakra nature manipulation training lately…but that's not all I've learned."

"Well, be that as it may," Hikaru said calmly. "You still haven't learned to never let your guard down, have you?" He raised his hand, which had been hanging low the entire time they had been talking. It was connected to chakra strings, which were aimed past Tatsuki.

The girl whirled around, but she was too late. Mantis slammed into her, knocking her back into a tree. The puppet placed one of its swords at her throat, the other at her stomach.

"Checkmate," Hikaru muttered under his breath.

"Hey! Not fair!" Tatsuki said angrily. She punched Mantis away and ran at Hikaru, who turned and fled in the opposite direction.

Ichiro watched them go at it for a few minutes, and then he sat down, pulled out a book, and began reading. He heard a rustling sound from nearby, and he glanced up with his eyes. Up above him, the branches were shaking unnaturally.

Over in the tree above Ichiro, the sand shinobi from the restaurant was watching the play fight escalating between Hikaru and Tatsuki. "_That girl is way to hyper, though if that was focused, she could be a force to be reckoned with,_" he observed. "_That small boy is too intense. But he seems to think ahead._"He looked over at Ichiro, who was standing up. "_And the other boy is…lazy. Although he was concerned about his friend's safety. Wait, what's he doing?_"

Ichiro leaned over, apparently putting his book away. Suddenly, he spun around throwing several shuriken at the shinobi in the tree. The shinobi spun away and landed lightly in front of Ichiro, who smirked at him.

"Hello there!" the boy said brightly. "What do you want?"

"How did you find me?" the man asked.

"You were kinda obvious with the way you snuck up on us," Ichiro commented. "I saw the branches shaking, and figured that it was more then just an animal."

The shinobi groaned. "I always was lousy at stealth."

Ichiro's face hardened. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Me?" the shinobi smiled slightly. "My name is Kanzo Mogi. I doubt you've heard of me…"

"Actually, I have," Ichiro replied. "But I am not sure of many of the details. Apparently you like to keep a low profile."

"It's important to keep one's secrets away from prying eyes," Kanzo explained. "Is that not part of being a shinobi?"

"True, that is part of our teachings," Ichiro admitted. "But one needs only to go so far, before it becomes ridiculous."

Kanzo shrugged. "As you have already said, I like to keep a low profile. That is not a bad thing."

"I suppose you're right," Ichiro said. "I merely make it my business to know everything about everyone that I can."

"Good for you," Kanzo replied. "By the way, I overheard you all talking about being on the same team…"

"Yeah," Ichiro nodded. "It would be great if we could. After all, we work well together."

"Do you?" Kanzo mused. "Your partners don't seem to have noticed my presence as of yet. If I had wanted to, I could have killed you and done away with the body, and they wouldn't have seen a thing."

Ichiro chuckled softly. "You underestimate us," he said. "Of course they know you're here. But since you aren't a threat they have no reason to come over here."

"I find that hard to believe…" Kanzo said.

As he was speaking, another voice spoke up from behind him. "Really? Cause then you know nothing about us."

Kanzo whirled around, coming face to face with Hikaru, who had somehow gotten behind him. He looked back over his shoulder at Tatsuki and the other "Hikaru", who had stopped fighting and were now standing side by side, watching the proceedings. Kanzo glanced back and forth between the two Hikarus for a moment, and then he began to laugh.

"Nice one!" he said, while still laughing. "You replaced yourself with a puppet while I was talking to your friend. Not bad." Kanzo looked over at Ichiro and smiled. "Look kid, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got something else to do. Talk to you later!" He formed a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Who was that?" Hikaru asked Ichiro.

"Kanzo Mogi," Ichiro replied. "He's a jonin."

* * *

A small group of jonin stood in Gaara's office. The Kazekage sat in his chair, facing all of the jonin, waiting in silence. Suddenly, the silence was broken as the door swung open. Kanzo walked into the room with an apologetic look on his face.

"Hey guys," he said. "Sorry I'm late. You see, I met these kids and-"

"You are here," Gaara interrupted. "That is enough."

Kanzo nodded, and took his place among the other jonin.

"Now that you all are here, we can get down to the business of choosing genin for you to train," Gaara said. "If there are any suggestions or if any of you have any preferences…"

Kanzo raised his hand. "Actually, sir, I might have one suggestion."

* * *

Hikaru, Ichiro, and Tatsuki were all once more in class. They waited with baited breath to see who would be on their teams.

"Okay everyone, this is it!" Masashi said. "After today, you will no longer be academy students. You'll be genin of the Sand." He lifted up a sheet of paper. "I'll be reading off your team lists from this. After I'm done, you'll wait around here for your jonin to show up and they'll take it from there." Masashi then began to read off the names. "Team 2 will be composed of Hideki Ide…" As Masashi continued calling out names, Hikaru waited, tentatively, for his name, or any of his friend's names.

"Team 6 will be Reiji Ozora, Kiyomi Takada, and Touta Matsuda," Masashi said.

"_So, I'm with the lazy guy and some girl I've never met before…_" Reiji thought. "_I wonder if they're any good._"

"Team 9 will be Ichiro Sumishiba…" Masashi continued. Time seemed to slow down for Hikaru. There it was! Ichiro's name! "…Tatsuki Arisawa…" And there it was again. Her name was also on the team! Hikaru waited tentatively. "…and Hikaru…"

The rest of what Masashi said was drowned out as Tatsuki and Ichiro cheered loudly. Tatsuki hugged Hikaru while Ichiro clapped him on the back.

"We're on the same team!" Tatsuki said gleefully. "This is amazing!"

Hikaru had to agree. He was in a sort of dazed trance wondering if he was dreaming.

Masashi frowned at them. He hated being interrupted. "If you are all finished…" he said menacingly. The three friends all looked back at him. "Thank you," he said. "Now, I've finished with the list. So, just wait here and your jonin will arrive shortly." Masashi turned, and left the room.

Everyone began talking excitedly to one another across the room. Many of them walked around the room locating their teammates. Hikaru, Ichiro, and Tatsuki simply stayed together and talked about their new team situation.

"How did this happen?" Hikaru wondered out loud. "I mean, there is no way that we could all three be on the same team!"

"We just lucked out I guess," Tatsuki said brightly.

"Yeah," Ichiro agreed. "We really lucked out. Unless, Kankuro talked to Gaara about it…" He looked over hopefully at Hikaru, who shook his head.

"I don't think so," Hikaru said. "I never mentioned anything about this. Besides, it's not like Uncle Gaara would go and do something like that, even for his own brother. You've never met him. He's extremely impartial when it comes to family and business."

"Well, why don't we just stop thinking about it and just be happy that it happened," Tatsuki said.

"Um…guys?" Ichiro said hesitantly. "Isn't that Kanzo Mogi over there?"

While they were talking, several jonin had been coming into the room and leaving with their new students. Among them was Kanzo. He noticed Hikaru, Ichiro, and Tatsuki staring down at him, and he grinned and waved. "Hey guys!" he called happily. "Come on down!"

Ichiro turned to his friends, who had stunned looks on their faces. "I think we just learned how we're on the same team," he said calmly.

* * *

"Man!" a chunin complained. "This is so boring!" Two chunin stood side by side, on top of the wall at the entrance of the village. "I just became a chunin and they assign me to guard duty!?"

"Settle down," the other chunin said with a calmer tone. "You'll get used to it. We'll be up here a lot."

"What do you mean?" the first chunin asked him. "Don't we ever get assigned to missions?"

The second chunin sighed. "Of course we do. But generally the Kazekage gives jobs to those who are best fitted for the task. If you're up here, well then, you must be a good choice for defending the village."

"Hooray for me," the first chunin muttered.

"Stop complaining," the second chunin snapped back. "It looks like we've got visitors."

They both walked over to the edge of the wall as a small dust cloud appeared far off in the distance.

* * *

Kanzo walked ahead of the three friends, leading them to a building, where he then led them up onto a rooftop. He gestured for them to sit and he leaned against a nearby pillar. "So, let's all get to know each other," he said. "That's what I would say, if I hadn't already studied up on all of you. And of course, you all already know each other so those introductions would also be pointless."

"Hey sensei!" Hikaru called. "What about you? You know us, and we know each other, but we don't know much about you."

"Me?" Kanzo chuckled. "I'm unimportant. Next question."

"What kind of answer is that?" Ichiro said coolly. "If you're going to teach us, then shouldn't we know something about you besides your name and rank?"

"True, but I think it is best if you leave that up to the person," Kanzo replied. "If you want to get to know me, then it will take time. I don't open up very easily. In fact, that can be your homework!"

"Um…okay," Ichiro said, confused.

"Sensei…" Tatsuki began slowly. "I was wondering, when are we going to have our first mission?"

"Just as soon as I get one from the Kazekage," Kanzo replied.

"So what now?" Hikaru asked.

"Now I'm going to test you," Kanzo replied. "Come with me." He led them away from the rooftop and up to a closed training area, which was beside the building where they had just been. "How are you all feeling?" Kanzo asked without turning around. "Anyone tired?"

"No sensei," they all replied in unison.

"Good," Kanzo spun around to face them. "Cause here's how it's going to work." He pulled out a scroll from his pocket and handed it to Ichiro. "I want you three, to take this scroll to the other side of this training area. That's about…three miles in all to cover."

"Easy," Tatsuki said confidently.

"Hang on," Kanzo continued. "I'm not done yet. You see, I'm going to be trying to stop you. You need to get it past me as well."

"What?" Hikaru frowned. "What is this? You're a jonin! There's no way we can stand up to you!"

"That's your problem isn't it?" Kanzo said with a grin. "See you later!" He formed a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Okay everyone, huddle up," Ichiro ordered. "We need a plan."

"There's no way we can do this!" Hikaru said furiously. "It's impossible!"

"No its not," Ichiro snapped back. "I know what we'll do. Listen closely…"

* * *

Hikaru, Ichiro, and Tatsuki dashed across the training field. The field stretched out for miles in front of them.

"This is ridiculous," Hikaru shouted to his teammates. "Anyone could find us out here!"

"Stop wining and just run!" Tatsuki called back. "We might be able to make it across if we're quick enough…"

"Is that really what you think?" a voice said from behind her. Tatsuki whirled around and threw several kunai at Kanzo, who had appeared directly behind her. He casually moved his body to the side and the weapons flew past him. "Don't make me yawn!" Kanzo said. He caught a glimpse of something moving out of the corner of his eye and spun away. Mantis embedded its swords into the place where Kanzo had been moments before. The jonin's eyes widened. "A puppet! But who…" He looked over at Hikaru who stood there with one hand extended out from under his cloak towards Mantis. "_Of course_," Kanzo realized. "_I forgot. This boy tricked me with a puppet just the other day._"

"Tatsuki!" Hikaru shouted. "Now!"

"Right!" the girl nodded and ran towards Kanzo, pulling out some kunai as she went. The jonin turned to face her, but as he did Mantis launched itself at him again. He quickly whipped out a kunai of his own and blocked its rapid sword attacks in an almost lazy fashion. Tatsuki closed in on Kanzo, but then leapt high over his head. She twisted around in the air and threw her kunai at Kanzo. Most of the kunai missed him, but instead fell into the sand around him. The few that were on target, Kanzo blocked with his kunai, before he returned to dueling Mantis. Tatsuki landed lightly on the other side of Kanzo and began forming hand signs. "Get Mantis out of there!" she called to Hikaru. The boy quickly complied and pulled his puppet back. Tatsuki finished her hand signs and held her hands up above her head. Lightning gathered on her hands and she fired it into the air where it disappeared off into the sky.

Kanzo waited. Nothing happened. He sighed. "What was that?" he asked Tatsuki.

"Hey sensei!" Tatsuki said with a smile. "Don't you know where you're standing?" She pointed at his feet. Kanzo frowned, but then looked down at where she was pointing. At his feet were several kunai. Which Tatsuki had thrown moments earlier. Kanzo's head snapped back up to see a massive lightning bolt come crashing down on him. "Nailed him!" Tatsuki said triumphantly.

"I don't think we've beaten him yet," Hikaru muttered. "Get ready!"

As the dust cleared from the blast, it became obvious that Hikaru was right. Kanzo was standing where he had been a moment before, but appeared to be unharmed.

He sighed and smiled slightly at Tatsuki. "You do realize that the goal of this exercise is not to kill me, right?" he said calmly.

"How did you block that?" Tatsuki was dumbfounded. "That jutsu was my strongest one!"

Kanzo chuckled softly. "Is it so hard to believe that someone with years of experience of fighting for his life can stop an attack like that?" he asked. "As for your jutsu, that was quite impressive. Something with that much power is hard to focus into one area, isn't it? That's why you placed the kunai around me. It was to help with your aim. Am I right?"

Tatsuki nodded. "Yeah…but no normal person can survive that jutsu. Who are you?"

"I am Kanzo Mogi," he replied. "I'm not like other people. I have this ability you see. Something only I can do."

"Do you mean like a Kekkei Genkai?" Hikaru asked.

Kanzo looked at the boy and his smile widened. "Precisely. Allow me to demonstrate." Suddenly, he began forming hand signs rapidly. _Steel Style: Iron Pillars Jutsu!_ Kanzo slammed his palms onto the ground and the earth began to quake. Hikaru and Tatsuki watched in stunned silence as multiple metal pillars rose from the ground and surrounded all three fighters. "I wouldn't advise you trying that lightning jutsu of yours again," Kanzo said. "If you do, you'll take us all out."

"_This is brilliant!_" Hikaru realized. "_He's taken out Tatsuki's ultimate jutsu! If we attack, it'll have to be direct. So then, it's my turn!_"

Kanzo looked over his students. Hikaru, he could see was planning his next move. Tatsuki was still stunned by the fact that their sensei had a Kekkei Genkai, and Ichiro…was just standing there. Kanzo frowned. That boy hadn't moved since the start of the battle. The only thing he had done was stand back away from the main fighting. This in itself wasn't unusual, because Ichiro was a medic ninja and wouldn't want to be involved in the fighting, but even so, he hadn't said a word since Kanzo had arrived.

"Hey sensei!" Hikaru called. "How does your jutsu work exactly? I think I've heard of it before…something about metal and sand."

Kanzo turned his attention back to Hikaru. There would be enough time later to figure out the mystery behind Ichiro's silence. "I believe the jutsu you are thinking of is the Iron Sand jutsu," Kanzo said. "I am not using that technique. That jutsu was unique to the Third Kazekage. No, the jutsu I'm using is known as Steel Style. I draw out the metals that are in the earth and form them into weapons of my own design. Like so." He formed more hand signs and a grayish liquid lifted out of the ground and wrapped around his arm. It hardened into armor and then more of the liquid lifted up and hardened into an ax, which he caught with his armored hand.

"Wow…" Hikaru said softly.

Kanzo took that moment of distraction to glance over at Ichiro again. Once more, the boy was just standing there. He hadn't moved at all. Suddenly, Kanzo heard something moving behind him. He dove to the side as Mantis shot by. Kanzo landed and rushed towards the puppet. He swung his ax at Mantis, who tried to block it with its swords. Kanzo's strength proved to be too much for the puppet. Mantis was crushed under the ax into the sand. One of his swords snapped and multiple pieces of his body broke off under the pressure.

Kanzo smirked at Hikaru. "Nice try boy," he said. "But your attack was way too loud."

Hikaru growled in frustration, and he pulled up on one of his chakra strings. Mantis's unbroken sword was launched out of its holder, up at Kanzo's face. The jonin twisted his body to the side to dodge and knocked the sword spinning away with his ax.

"Enough!" Kanzo roared. "I don't want to completely destroy your puppet. I know what I have already done will take hours of repair work."

Hikaru sighed and let his hand fall. "I know," he said. "But I just wanted to land one hit…"

"It doesn't matter," Kanzo snapped. "From what I can see this duel is pointless. Obviously, none of you are capable of defeating me and you have not completed the task I assigned you. All I see is a failure."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Hikaru said casually. "Ichiro should have reached the other side of this training area by now…"

"What?" Kanzo's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you see…" Hikaru smirked slightly. "THIS isn't Ichiro." He pointed over at "Ichiro", who was still just standing there not saying a word. "Have you forgotten about my other hand? I've been using just one to fight with Mantis. If you knew more about me you would realize that I cannot control Mantis to his full capacity with just one hand. Not yet anyway. However, I needed to use my other hand for a specific purpose." Hikaru pulled out his other hand, which he had been hiding under his cloak for the entirety of the battle up unto this point. Kanzo noticed five strings coming off of the fingers of the hand he had kept hidden. Those strings went off to the side where Ichiro was standing. "Now do you understand?" Hikaru asked. "This isn't Ichiro. You already know this guy." He quickly yanked on the chakra strings connected to the fake Ichiro. The skin on the fake Ichiro cracked, and began to fall away to reveal the wooden parts underneath.

"_Amazing! So that's how he did it!_" Kanzo thought.

"So, don't count me out, sensei!" Hikaru shouted. Shadow lifted into the air and rushed forward at Kanzo, who raised his ax, preparing to defend himself. Hikaru smiled and with his other hand pulled a couple of strings. Mantis's middle opened up to reveal a hidden compartment. Immediately, three chakram were fired from the compartment. Kanzo noticed this at the last second and quickly knocked the chakram away. As he looked back up, he found himself face to face with Shadow. He swung his ax up and shoved Shadow to the side. A needle had sprung from Shadow's wrist and as the puppet went by it slashed Kanzo across the cheek with the needle, leaving a long, bloody streak behind. "Got you sensei!" Hikaru called out. He smiled slightly and released his chakra strings. "There's nothing else I can do," he said. "I yield."

Kanzo just stared in astonishment at Hikaru. "_Perhaps I was too quick to judge this boy. Maybe Ichiro isn't the genius behind the team._"

"Well, sensei? Aren't you going after Ichiro?" Hikaru said with a grin.

Kanzo sighed. "There's no need to," he replied. A second Kanzo landed beside the original. On its back was Ichiro, tied up and gagged. Kanzo smiled at the confused looks on Hikaru and Tatsuki's faces. "When we began this little game, I used my Earth Style to track you down by following your vibrations," Kanzo explained. "Very early on it became apparent that one of you was not staying with the main group, but instead headed off in a different direction. Unfortunately, I cannot discern vibrations as well around here because of the sand, so to deal with this problem I created a shadow clone to track down the other one of you."

"So you were one step ahead of us the whole time!" Tatsuki exclaimed. "There was never any way for us to win!"

Kanzo shrugged. "Maybe not. However, that was not the real purpose of the test." As he spoke, his shadow clone untied Ichiro. After a few moments, all three of the students stood together in front of him. "Ichiro told me you all work well together," Kanzo continued. "It seems he was right. So, you passed!"

All three genin stood there for a moment, before bursting into cheers.

Kanzo smiled at his students antics. "_They have done well,_" he thought. Then, he froze. "Quiet!" he hissed at his students. They all saw his expression and obeyed immediately. Kanzo strained his ears to listen to the far off shouts. "_It __sounds like…someone is fighting!_" Kanzo realized. He turned to face the gateway of the village, which was very close to the training field they were in. "Wait here!" he ordered. Kanzo dashed off, leaving the three genin far behind. Kanzo reached the wall quickly, and leapt onto it attaching himself with chakra. He ran up the wall and leapt onto the top to find himself in the midst of a battle.

There were five shinobi present, besides himself. Two of the shinobi were of the Sand, one of which had suffered an injury to his leg. One of the other three shinobi was dead, but all three of those shinobi were of the Village Hidden in the…

"Oh, no," Kanzo breathed realizing what was going on.

Since he was still holding his ax, he simply ran forward to fight. The two enemy shinobi were fighting the one Sand shinobi, who wasn't injured, while the other injured Sand shinobi threw kunai and shuriken to try and distract them. However, even with the distractions it was apparent that the Sand shinobi, who was still standing, would have been able to hold off both of his opponents by his own power. He was young, but strong and fought with ferocity. One of the enemy shinobi saw Kanzo coming and turned to face him. Kanzo easily smashed his opponent's kunai aside and killed him with a stroke of his ax. The younger Sand shinobi quickly disarmed his own opponent and kicked him over the edge of the wall.

"What's going on here?" Kanzo snapped. "How did the enemy get this close?"

The injured Sand shinobi looked up apologetically at Kanzo. "I'm sorry," he gasped. "They came upon us so fast…we didn't realize who they were until it was to late."

Kanzo looked down at him, and his expression softened. "I'm not blaming you, Arayoshi…just looking for the facts."

"Well, perhaps we can save that for another time," the younger shinobi snapped.

"Ryotaro!" Arayoshi reprimanded. "Don't be rude to Kanzo! He's a jonin and besides that…"

"I didn't mean to be rude," Ryotaro interrupted quickly. "However, there is a large group of shinobi headed our way. I just thought you might want to know."

Kanzo sprang to his side and looked out over the wall at a mass of shinobi, who were coming in fast. "We're in for it now…" he muttered.

_Editor's Note_:

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for the late update! Its not been the best of times for me...family was in over the holidays, and then my girlfriend broke up with me and school is starting again! Horrors! So, anyway, I'll try my best to update more regularly. Thanks for reading and please review before you go. Thanks!


	7. Assault

Chapter 7: Assault

Kanzo watched as a huge swarm of shinobi reached the Sand Village wall and begin to run up it. He pulled out a large scroll and began to unroll it across the top of the wall.

"Buy me some time!" he ordered. The two chunin who were with him, Arayoshi and Ryotaro, quickly responded to his call. Ryotaro ran over to the wall and began hurling shuriken down at the enemy. Arayoshi, who had already been injured in a previous fight, dragged himself over to the wall and joined his comrade.

While they were doing this Kanzo began forming hand signs. He slammed both of his palms down flat on the scroll and there was a brief explosion of smoke. When the smoke cleared a huge block of metal was left in its place on top of the scroll.

"You might want to hurry," Ryotaro said. "They're almost to the top of the wall."

Kanzo nodded, but didn't say anything. He once more began forming hand signs. When he was finished he placed both of his hands on the metal block in front of him. _Steel Style: Liquefy! _The block of metal immediately melted into a liquid form and soaked unnaturally fast into the ground beneath Kanzo's feet. Kanzo walked over to the wall and stood beside Ryotaro.

"Stand back please," he said calmly to the younger shinobi.

Ryotaro nodded, and pulled Arayoshi back with him. Several enemy shinobi, who were near to the top of the wall, pulled out kunai and shuriken and threw them up at Kanzo. He quickly repeated his previous hand signs. _Steel Style: Liquefy! _Just as the weapons came near him they melted into their liquid forms and like the block of metal, soaked quickly into the ground. Kanzo didn't stop there. He continued forming hand signs at a rapid pace. _Steel Style: Piercing Spikes! _

On the wall below the leader of the enemy shinobi was feeling fairly confident. There were only a few defenders on the wall which his troops were assaulting, they were close to the top of the wall, and only one of them had been killed by a shuriken as they ascended. Suddenly, and without warning, a long metal spike erupted from the wall impaling one of the shinobi. The others glanced over at the comrade with a mixture of shock and fear. Before any of them could react another metal spike leapt out and speared a second shinobi. The leader noticed the wall under his feet moving slightly and he dove to the side as a spike ripped its way out of the wall.

"What is this?" he wondered out loud. He looked around to see his men standing still, looking at him. They were waiting for orders. "Keep on!" he shouted. "But watch your feet! The ground shakes before the spike comes out!" His men nodded and continued their ascent.

Kanzo watched the enemy coming towards him. They were looking at the wall as they ran. Kanzo sighed. They had figured out the trick to his technique. It wouldn't make any difference though. Apparently there was far less metal in the wall then he had originally thought. He had used that block of metal to increase the amount, but obviously that hadn't been enough. He turned to face the two chunin, who were waiting for his orders.

"Change of plans," he said. "We're not going to be able to stop them from reaching the top of the wall. We'll have to make a stand here. I won't blame you if you want to run. After all, the village must be warned about this attack."

Arayoshi winced. "I'm certainly not going anywhere sir," he said. "Even if I could leave, I would stay."

Ryotaro pulled out a pair of tonfa and walked over to Kanzo. "I'll stand with you," he said bravely.

Kanzo looked at him with a sad smile. The boy wasn't much older then his students. "We could die you know."

"That's our job, isn't it?" Ryotaro replied. "We are shinobi. We fight and die for our village. Besides, I'm not too worried about the village knowing about us. I'm sure they would have heard the fighting by now. We haven't exactly kept quiet about it."

"Good," Kanzo nodded. "They're right near the top. Prepare yourselves."

Almost as soon as he finished speaking the enemy poured over the edge. There weren't many at first, just three shinobi. Kanzo rushed forward to face one of them. The shinobi pulled out a kunai to block Kanzo's ax swing. The kunai was sliced in half by the force of his swing. Kanzo dispatched the shinobi with a second slash.

Ryotaro was already battling the other two shinobi. He spun his tonfa rapidly deflecting their attacks and striking out whenever there was an opening. Kanzo marveled at the boy's skill. He certainly had a lot of talent. However, Kanzo didn't have much time to watch. More of the enemy was coming over the wall and Kanzo rushed to face them. However, he was driven back almost as fast as he had gone forward. Their sheer numbers were weighing him down. He deflected a couple shuriken that were thrown at him, but then had to block a katana that was swung down at his head. By this point he had six shinobi on him pressing him back. He leapt away and took a moment to glance over at his partners.

Ryotaro was doing well. He had knocked out his two opponents with his tonfa, but unfortunately for him, they were quickly replaced by four more. He immediately struck out at them, but like Kanzo, found himself being driven back at an insane speed.

Arayoshi tried to help, but he couldn't do much more then throw some shuriken at the enemy. At first the enemy practically ignored him, but once they figured out that only so many of them could fight Kanzo and Ryotaro at a time, they came at him all at once.

Kanzo watched, horrified, as Arayoshi went down under a swarm. He felt anger building up inside him and he roared his fury at the enemy coming towards him. They attacked all at once, each with his own weapon, but just before he would be struck, Kanzo blocked all of their weapons with his ax. Blinded by rage Kanzo allowed them to push him back, but then when they were off balance he shoved forward with all of his strength. They were all blown away and landed on the ground hard. As they tried to stand Kanzo was among them like a whirlwind. He cut down two of them and was about to finish a third when he heard a voice that chilled him to the bone.

"Enough," the voice said.

Kanzo stopped and looked up at the speaker. While he was distracted, the four remaining shinobi, who he had been fighting, crawled away from him as quick as they could. The speaker was a tall man shrouded in a black cloak that covered him from head to toe. Even his face was hidden from view by a hood.

"Kanzo Mogi," the man said. "I've heard of you. Not only has your strength become legendary, but so has your Kekkei Genkai. The famous 'Steel Style' as it is called."

Kanzo's grip tightened on his ax. Somehow he knew this was a man who wouldn't be defeated so easily.

"I would like to face you myself," the man continued. "Perhaps if I kill you I will gain some of your fame."

"I doubt it," Kanzo replied. "I'm barely acknowledged in this world when compared with many of the great shinobi who are alive today. Even if you killed me, you would have a long road ahead of you before you become truly famous."

"Well, we've all got to start somewhere," the other man said with a shrug. He quickly began forming hand signs.

Kanzo waited patiently. "_I wonder what his jutsu style is,_" Kanzo wondered. "_His men certainly respect him. Ever since this shinobi came to fight me the others have hung back._"

The enemy shinobi soon finished his hand signs. "You should have attacked me when you had the chance," he said.

The world around Kanzo began to spin out of focus and as it did, it also darkened until he couldn't see anything except, oddly enough, himself. "_What's going on?_" Kanzo thought. Then it hit him. This was a genjutsu! He held up his hand and formed a seal. _Release! _Nothing changed. It was still dark. Kanzo sighed. Apparently this genjutsu was too powerful to be negated by normal means.

"How are you enjoying my Bottomless Darkness Jutsu?" it was the man's voice again, but this time it was coming from all around Kanzo.

Kanzo didn't answer him. Instead he focused on the voice trying to locate a specific source. Suddenly, he sensed movement behind himself and he spun around just in time to block a scythe's blade which was about to decapitate him. He could slightly make out the shape of his opponent holding the scythe. Kanzo attacked quickly with his ax. He swung his ax down, but was blocked. Kanzo moved forward swinging his ax up, but was blocked again. The other man forced Kanzo's ax aside and slashed at his neck. Kanzo leapt away just in time. His opponent, however, was not done. He moved forward with his scythe attacking wildly. Kanzo had to move quickly to deflect a blow that was aimed for his head, and then a second one that went for his chest, and then he jumped over a third which went for his legs. While he was in the air he held his ax up over his head and then brought in down with all his might. His opponent moved swiftly and brought his scythe up, but it wasn't enough. The ax didn't slice through the scythe, like it did the kunai, but it knocked the scythe aside and cut the enemy shinobi clear in half. Kanzo watched as his defeated opponent wobbled for a moment, then collapsed into a pile of dust. The steel shinobi sighed.

"I hate genjutsu," he muttered. He heard the sound of footsteps coming up behind him and he spun around, to see absolutely nothing there. Kanzo frowned. "_What was that?_"

"You must be brave, turning your back on me like that."

Kanzo's eyes widened when he heard the voice coming from behind him and he tried to jump away, but before he could something sliced into his side and a bolt of pain shot through him. When he landed he clapped a hand over his wound and felt blood running through his fingers. Kanzo turned his head around to look behind him and saw his opponent standing there, unharmed. His scythe was dripping with Kanzo's blood.

"And here I was thinking you were smart," the enemy shinobi said. "Whatever made you look away?"

"I thought I heard footsteps," Kanzo replied. "The sound came from behind me. Obviously that was a distraction of yours, wasn't it? And I fell for it…"

"Unfortunately I cannot take the credit for that," the enemy shinobi said. He scanned the surrounding area with an air of annoyance. "It would seem I don't have much more time to play with you." He stood still and formed a hand sign. Kanzo spotted movement out of the corner of his eyes and he looked around. Three copies of his opponent walked out of the darkness and stood each on a different side of Kanzo. "Goodbye Kanzo Mogi," the cloaked man said.

All four of the men surrounding Kanzo raised a scythe and rushed forward. Kanzo stood up, wincing from the pain in his side, and looked down at the ground, closing his eyes. The four men pulled back their scythes and swung them in all at once. At the last second Kanzo jumped straight up. The scythes all swung under him and struck each other. Their wielders looked up at Kanzo who came down on the scythes. Each of his feet caught a scythe and pushed it to the ground. His free hand seized a third and moved it aside. His hand which was holding his ax moved quickly decapitating the two cloaked men whose scythes he was holding back with his feet. They immediately exploded into dust and as they did, the one man, who didn't have his scythe held down, raised it to strike at Kanzo. The steel shinobi quickly swung the man, whose scythe he was holding in his hand, around and slammed him into the one who was about to attack. They both tumbled away and lay still.

"Very good!"

Kanzo heard clapping coming from behind him and he knew who it was. He spun around and his suspicions were proved correct.

"You've done well to last this long," the cloaked man said. "Especially with that injury. Most don't survive the first few hits."

"Is it really you this time?" Kanzo asked.

"What do you mean?" the cloaked man asked. "Oh. You mean is this my real body? You don't seem to understand. Everything you've fought in here is an illusion. This body you see before you is also an illusion."

"What about this?" Kanzo asked, placing a hand on his wound.

The cloaked man chuckled softly. "That too is an illusion. But don't get to comfortable. If you die in here then you'll die out there as well. Impressive, isn't it? I invented this jutsu you know. It's my way of going one on one with people to test my own fighting skills. And there is no risk to myself. I cannot be killed no matter how many times you strike me down. In this place, I am invincible!"

"Maybe, but what about on the outside?" Kanzo asked quietly. The cloaked man seemed to freeze in place. "I'm starting to think that is what I heard earlier," Kanzo said calmly. "Those footsteps? There are other shinobi here aren't there? There's a battle going on all around us and for a moment I heard the people who were fighting."

"It's true," the cloaked shinobi admitted. "But you'll be long dead before anyone can interfere." He held out his hand and his scythe appeared in it. "Goodbye Kanzo Mogi." Suddenly, he froze again and he seemed to be looking past Kanzo. "No, you can't!" he yelled. "STOP!"

All around Kanzo the darkness was disappearing. It was quickly replaced by a fire red color and Kanzo felt the air around him becoming hotter. A hand clapped him on the shoulder and he was pulled back to reality. The wall was awash in blood. Dead and dying Shinobi lay all around him. Some, but not most, of them were Sand shinobi. Beside Kanzo was a tall, severe looking man who had a shock of red hair and wore Sand Village armor.

"Are you alright?" the man asked Kanzo without looking at him.

Kanzo felt his side where he had received the wound, but there wasn't anything there. "Yeah," he said. "Thanks. You got here just in time."

"How dare you!" the cloaked man shrieked. "How dare you interfere in my battle?"

"I was protecting my fellow shinobi," the red-haired man replied. "Is that so wrong?"

The cloaked man seethed for a moment, but then he gasped. "I know you!" he said, his voice becoming fearful. "You're Soichiro Ozora!"

"And you're Kyosuke Higuchi," Soichiro sneered. "A two-bit genjutsu user who has somehow been giving our forces a lot of trouble lately."

"Two-bit?" Kyosuke's voice was almost shrill.

"Yes, of course," Soichiro replied. "Your special genjutsu can only affect one person at a time, can it not?"

"So what?" Kyosuke snarled. "It will be enough to finish you!" He once more began forming hand signs at a rapid rate.

"Oh please, that trash again," Soichiro muttered. He drew a sword from its scabbard at his waist and raised it above his head. "Come! Senkoukura!" Flames climbed up his arm and covered his sword. The flames rose up high into the air and took on the shape of a huge, flaming dragon that overlooked Kyosuke.

All around the two fighters many other shinobi saw the dragon. The Sand shinobi looked at it and smiled knowing what was coming. The enemy simply looked on in horror. Kyosuke looked unsettled for a moment, but then he laughed.

"Your jutsu won't stand a chance once I take hold of your mind!" he said.

"Oh really?" Soichiro smirked. "I'm sure my friend might have something to say about that." He placed a hand on Kanzo's shoulder. "If you try and capture me he will strike you down."

Kyosuke took a nervous step back. A few of his fellow shinobi sprang to his side and faced Senkoukura. One of them turned to Kyosuke and said, "Sir, I would advise that we retreat for now. We're far outnumbered."

"No…I won't run away!" Kyosuke shouted. "He stole my kill!" Kyosuke whipped out a couple shuriken and threw them at Soichiro.

"You fool," Soichiro muttered. The massive flaming dragon dove down and wrapped its body around its master. The shuriken struck Senkoukura and entered his body, but they quickly burnt up in the inferno and melted away. "Are you done?" Soichiro said in a bored tone. "Good. Senkoukura! Destroy them." Senkoukura roared and rose up high over the enemy.

Kyosuke rushed forward to meet him head on, but two of his fellow shinobi seized him by the arms and pulled him away. The rest of the group quickly followed suit. Those who were still fighting broke off and ran after their allies. Senkoukura roared once more and dove down at the enemy. He closed his jaws around two the shinobi and they were instantly incinerated. As Senkoukura fought, Kanzo glanced at Soichiro. The older shinobi watched his dragon battling impassively. He seemed to have already lost his earlier fervor. Soichiro noticed Kanzo looking at him and he smiled at Kanzo.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No," Kanzo replied, standing up slowly. "Thanks for the assistance. By the way, that man, he's not as weak as you might think. If he does get you in his genjutsu then there is no escape unless you have someone to pull you out."

Soichiro shrugged. "Good thing that I never have to worry about that then. I make it a rule to never fight on my own if I can help it. Besides, I've always got Senkoukura."

"I'm just glad he's on our side," Kanzo muttered. Soichiro didn't reply, but instead smiled slightly.

"Sir!"

Kanzo turned around to see Ryotaro walking towards him. The younger shinobi was breathing hard and seemed to be having trouble standing. He had cuts all over his body, though most of them were on his arms where his tonfa hadn't protected him.

"What is it" Kanzo asked

"It's Arayoshi," Ryotaro replied. "He's dead sir."

For a moment, Kanzo ceased breathing. Arayoshi…dead? It wasn't possible.

"Sir, I was wondering," Ryotaro asked slowly. "How well did you know him?"

It took Kanzo a moment to realize that he was being asked a question. "He was on my team back in my days as a genin," Kanzo replied. His voice was quiet.

"I'm sorry sir," Ryotaro said. "I'll take you to him now…if you want to."

Kanzo nodded and followed the young man through the crowd of shinobi over to a corner of the wall where they were laying out the dead.

Ryotaro stood at a distance watching Kanzo, who dropped down beside Arayoshi's body and took his hand in his own. After a moment of silence Ryotaro cleared his throat loudly.

"I'll just go and help with the clean up crew," Ryotaro said. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Kanzo shook his head wordlessly and Ryotaro left. Kanzo sat there in silence. As he did, a single tear rolled down his cheek and fell into the sand. Then he stood and left Arayoshi behind. There was work to be done.

* * *

Reiji Ozora lay in bed fast asleep. To a casual observer he looked quite peaceful, but inside his mind he was in turmoil. All around him shadowed figures moved. Voices sounded in his head. They were calling to him. They were beckoning for him to come closer. He fought them. He didn't want to go with them. This made them call all the more. He pulled back and struggled out of their grasp.

Reiji sat up. He was panting and was drenched in sweat. He had had this dream before. It was always the same, the figures in the darkness, the voices calling for him. However, it had never been this strong before. Maybe there was something to this dream. Was someone calling to him? He lay back in his bed and closed his eyes. He didn't have time for this foolishness. In the morning he would head out to a training area with his team and his jonin sensei. He would need all the sleep he could get until then. It wasn't long before he was asleep again. The dream was forgotten.

* * *

Reiji was fully refreshed the next morning. He ate breakfast with his brother, Takumi, and his father, Soichiro, and then headed back to his room to suit up and head out to meet his team. He fitted himself out in shinobi armor that his father had given him, but then he slipped casual clothes over the armor. There was no need to draw unnecessary attention to himself. He looked around his room for his swords, but didn't see them. He searched around his room and in his closet, but he couldn't find them anywhere.

"_Check behind your dresser._"

Reiji walked over to his dresser and pulled it out a little. His swords fell sideways out from behind the dresser. Reiji chided himself inwardly. He must have laid them up on his dresser and they must have fallen behind it somehow. He picked the swords up and strapped them to his back. He was halfway out of his room when he realized that the thought he had just had was not his own. A shiver ran down his spine and memories of his dream returned to him. He left his room, unsettled. He felt a little better as he stepped out of his house and into the sunshine. Reiji jogged through the familiar streets towards his destination. He waved to a few different people and listened to the birds singing as he went. Once again, his dream was forgotten. He saw his team up ahead. They were waiting outside of a training area and as Reiji approached them the girl on his team, Kiyomi, turned and waved at him.

"Hey Reiji!" she called.

He was slightly surprised by her friendly behavior. They had never spoken before. At least, not until yesterday when they were put on the same team, but he smiled and waved back at her. "Hello Kiyomi," he said.

Touta sat a little ways from the two of them. He was snoring softly. Kiyomi walked over and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Wake up!" she said loudly. "Reiji is here!"

One of Touta's eyes cracked open, but then closed again. "So what?" he grumbled. "If sensei isn't here yet then there's no point in waking me up."

"Well, at least you're awake now," Kiyomi said. "So what do you both think we'll be doing today?"

Reiji shrugged. "Who knows? We've already passed the genin test so maybe he just wants us to talk?"

"But we did that yesterday!" said Kiyomi. "I think he has something else planned."

"And you would be right!" their sensei appeared in their midst in a puff of smoke. It was Ray Penber. He had light brown hair and a pleasant smile on his face. He was young for a jonin; Reiji guessed he was in his early twenties. He wore regulation sand shinobi armor and had a gauntlet on each arm. "I do have something special planned for today. But every other jonin would be doing something like this for their teams anyway so it really shouldn't be a surprise."

"What is it exactly?" Reiji asked.

"Well, technically you have not officially become genin," said Ray. "First you have to pass my test."

"Another one?" Kiyomi groaned.

"_So we're going to be tested again…_" Reiji thought. "_This shouldn't be so hard._"

Ray stepped forward and grabbed Reiji's arm. The boy tried to pull away, but Ray held him firmly. Ray held out a ribbon and single handedly tied it around Reiji's arm.

"What is this?" Reiji asked.

"Its part of my test," Ray informed him. "I've got one for each of you. And there's one for me also."

"So, what are we doing with them?" it was Touta who had spoken. Ray turned to see the young boy standing behind him. Touta hadn't said anything since Ray had arrived.

"We'll be playing a game," Ray explained. "You could call it capture the flag if you wish, but really what we'll be doing is a lot simpler then that. One of you three has to steal the flag from me. That one will pass this test. If I steal any of your flags then you are out of the game."

"Okay," Kiyomi said. She went forward to get her flag from Ray.

"Hold on," Reiji held out his hand, stopping her. "What do you mean by 'that one will pass this test'? Don't we all pass if we get your flag? We're supposed to be a three man team aren't we?"

Ray walked over to Kiyomi and Touta and handed them their flags. Then he formed a hand sign and disappeared.

"HEY!" Reiji shouted. "Don't ignore me!" There was no reply. Reiji growled and kicked at the dirt with his foot.

"Come on you guys," Touta said calmly. He started off into the training area.

"I'm not going with you!" Reiji snapped. "Why should I? You'll just snatch the flag when my back is turned! Then you'll become a genin and we'll both fail!" Reiji waved his hand at Kiyomi.

The girl looked nervously back and forth between Reiji and Touta. "Touta, what if he's right?" she said after a moment. "What if only one of us passes this test?"

Touta sighed and walked back to his teammates. "Listen," he said. "There's no way he can pass only one of us. If any of us fails then we all fail. There has to be a three man squad when it comes to genin. It's in the rules. He's just trying to mess with our minds by saying that stuff about the one passing this test. I'm guessing the real purpose of this test is to see how well we work as a team. Besides, no one of us could beat him. He's a jonin. I sincerely doubt we can beat him all together, but that's what the flag is for. It gives us the advantage we need. All we've go to do is to get our hands on it and we win."

Kiyomi glanced back at Reiji. "I'm with him," she said. "It makes sense."

Reiji sighed. "I'll help out then," he said reluctantly. "What's your plan?"

For the first time in all of Reiji and Kiyomi's memory, Touta smiled.

* * *

"Sensei!" Touta walked across the dunes. "Where are you?" he called.

Ray walked out in front of him and shook his head sadly. "So you came alone? It appears that you have already failed."

"I don't think so!"

Touta whipped out a couple of shuriken and sent them spinning towards Ray. The jonin didn't move. Just before the shuriken would have struck him he disappeared and the weapons kept going. Ray suddenly appeared in front of Touta and his palm shot out and passed through the boy's chest. Ray's eyes widened in surprise.

"_It was a clone?_" he realized.

Ray spun around to see Touta standing on a dune behind him holding up what looked like a bow, but there wasn't a string on the bow and there were no arrows in sight. Touta placed his free hand on his bow and drew it back. As he did an arrow made of pure chakra formed along the bow. He let go and the arrow was fired straight at Ray. The jonin once more waited until the last second and then disappeared. He reappeared behind Ray and pulled back his fist. Touta tried to turn around, but he was too slow! Suddenly Reiji dropped from the sky bringing his swords down on Ray. The jonin leapt out of the way and skidded across the ground.

"So you didn't come alone," Ray commented. He heard a whistling sound and dove to the side. Three senbon flew by past him. He looked over his shoulder to see Kiyomi standing behind him. "I guess my trick didn't work then," he said.

"No, it didn't," Reiji replied. "And as much as I hate to admit it, we've got to give the credit to the lazy guy over here."

"Oh, thanks," Touta said sarcastically.

Reiji ignored him. "Are you ready sensei?" he said, pointed at Ray with one of his hook swords. "We're coming at you all at once."

Ray smiled. "You can try."

Reiji held his swords loosely and allowed them to drop into the sand. He rushed forward and swung one up at Ray. The jonin blocked with one of his gauntlets and punched at Reiji with his other hand. Reiji tried to deflect the blow with his other sword, but was thrown back by the strength of the blow. Reiji landed down on one knee and plunged both of his swords into the sand at his sides. He quickly formed hand signs. _Fire Style: Dragon Claw Jutsu! _Reiji breathed out a stream of fire which split into what looked like a large three-clawed hand. The claws opened up and rushed toward Ray. The jonin dodged to the side and the claw flew past him, striking a dune in an explosion of flames.

Before Ray could respond Kiyomi leapt out in front of him and threw more senbon at him. Ray ducked under the senbon and Kiyomi jumped at him. She threw a punch at his head which he blocked by catching her arm. She spat senbon out of her mouth at him and he swung himself to the side to dodge. Ray threw her over his head and she landed a short distance away unharmed.

Once more, before Ray could even think about a counterattack Reiji was on him attacking with his swords viciously. Ray kicked the boy aside, but found himself facing Kiyomi again. Soon, Reiji was back again and they fought from both of Ray's sides, diving in to help the other whenever they were in trouble.

Ray admired their teamwork, but he knew he had to bring it to an end. As Kiyomi kicked at him, Ray caught her by the leg and tossed her away again. He immediately spun around and came at Reiji. He knocked the boy's swords aside and slammed him into sand. Ray pressed his knee down into Reiji's chest and reached for the boy's flag. Reiji struggled, but he couldn't stop Ray. It was over. The boy closed his eyes.

"_No._"

Reiji's swords burst into flame. In that same instant Ray looked up to see another of Touta's arrows coming at him. He flipped backwards from Reiji and allowed the arrow to pass.

"Nice try," Ray said. He looked down at Reiji and froze in shock. The boy's swords were on fire.

Reiji pulled himself to his feet. On the inside he felt like he was on fire, but there was no pain. The heat didn't mean anything to him. There was only power. Reiji stared coldly into Ray's eyes.

"I won't lose," he said in a voice that didn't sound entirely like his own. The very air around him became hazy in the heat that emanated from his body. He brought his swords together and lowered them so that they were pointing at Ray. A massive stream of fire erupted from the end of his blades. It slammed into Ray's chest and blew him away. Reiji heard Kiyomi scream and he laughed insanely. Now this was power!

Something struck Reiji on the back of his head and he collapsed with the expression of laughter still on his face. Ray stood behind Reiji. He was nursing his hand, which he had struck the boy with. It was burned slightly from simply touching Reiji.

"_What was that?_" Ray wondered. "_If I had been a second slower I'd be dead right now._" He looked over at his other students. They were shaken, but hadn't been hurt.

* * *

Reiji opened his eyes slowly. He was in a hospital bed hooked up to several machines. Kiyomi and Touta sat in chairs next to his bed. They looked up apprehensively as he sat up.

"What happened?" Reiji asked weakly. "I was about to lose to Ray and then…I was burning."

Kiyomi and Touta looked at each other nervously. "Um…" Kiyomi walked over to Reiji's bed. "You went a little…crazy on us."

"Crazy?" Reiji looked over at her and she flinched back. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice. "What did I do?"

"Your swords caught on fire and you…blasted Ray with this huge fire attack," she explained. "But Ray managed to dodge at the last second and knocked you out. Then he brought you here. We only just got here a few minutes ago ourselves."

Reiji looked around the room and noticed two shinobi standing nearby at a wall. "What are they doing here?" he asked. Kiyomi and Touta exchanged another nervous glance, but before they could explain, Ray walked in.

"They're guards. In case you go psycho again," the jonin told him. "I've contacted your father. He's on his way now."

Reiji groaned. "Why did you have to bring dad into this?" he asked Ray.

"I was hoping your father could give us an explanation of your behavior," Ray replied.

"And fortunately, I can."

Soichiro Ozora walked into the room and stood by Ray. "I need to speak to my son," he said. "In private."

Ray motioned to the guards and Kiyomi and Touta and they all left the room. Ray, however, stayed. Soichiro noticed this and frowned at Ray.

Ray answered his silent question without even looking at him. "I think anything you wish to say to your son can be said in front of me," he said.

"These are family matters…" Soichiro began.

"…which you will tell me about if you wish for your son to remain on my team," Ray replied coldly. "I can't have a genin who might blow up on us at any moment."

Reiji was amazed. No one ever stood up to his father like that. Then something about what Ray had said clicked in Reiji's mind. "Wait," the genin began. "Does that mean we passed your test?"

Ray looked at him without smiling. "Yes," he replied. "And no. The main purpose of the test was to see if you would fight together."

"_So Touta was right about that too,_" Reiji realized.

"You did work together," Ray continued. "However, considering the circumstances it's up to your father now. If he agrees to my terms and explains what happened and gives a solution…well, then you'll have passed. If not…" He left off and focused back on Soichiro again.

Soichiro grumbled under his breath for a moment, but then said, "Fine! Stay if you like! He'll probably end up telling you all about it anyway…"

"What's wrong with me father?" Reiji asked. He was feeling slightly nervous himself.

"There is nothing wrong with you!" Soichiro said quickly. "It's just that…" he looked over at Ray before continuing. "Our family's Kekkei Genkai has awakened within you."

Reiji gasped. "Do you mean…"

"Yes," Soichiro nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Ray asked. "What Kekkei Genkai?"

Soichiro took a deep breath before answering him. "As I'm sure you are aware, our family has always been famous for our Kekkei Genkai."

"I've heard of it," Ray admitted. "But I've never seen it in action before."

Soichiro continued as if Ray hadn't said anything. "We have the ability to summon a dragon from within ourselves. This dragon is incredibly powerful and almost invulnerable. The only way it can be destroyed is by attacking the person using the dragon."

Ray frowned. "But Reiji didn't use a dragon. It was just a blast of fire."

"You're right," Soichiro said. "However, it will be a dragon once he has been trained properly and is able to control it."

"That still doesn't explain why he went insane," Ray said.

Soichiro looked at Reiji, and then turned back to Ray. "You understand that what I am about to tell you must never leave this room. Am I clear?" Ray nodded, and then Soichiro continued. "What is the true strength of our dragons is not in their physical power, but rather their ability to think for themselves. They can also speak with us and give us advice."

Reiji gasped. "So that's what I've been hearing!" he exclaimed. "I've been hearing some voice in my head lately. It's been helping find stuff and reminding when I'm going to be late for something."

Soichiro nodded. "Of course," he said. "The dragons are a part of us, and yet they are their own being. They have minds of their own."

"So why did he go insane?" Ray demanded. "Why did he lose control? You still haven't explained that part yet."

"I'm getting there," Soichiro snapped back. "Reiji is inexperienced. He cannot control his dragon as of yet. And his dragon is young. I believe I am correct in assuming its power has been growing within him for several weeks now. If that is true then it means his dragon does not know what is going on either. I believe it accidentally took over his mind. In essence, it possessed him."

"It can do that?" Reiji asked.

"Yes, it can," Soichiro replied. "But only if you allow it to do so. When this happened, were you in an inescapable position? Would you have done anything to get away?"

"Yeah," Reiji said slowly. "I was."

"You see?" Soichiro smiled at Reiji. "What's happening is nothing serious. This happened to me as well when I reached this point."

"_Nothing serious?_" Ray thought. "_That's easy for him to say. He didn't almost get burned to a crisp._"

"Does that help you any?" Soichiro asked Ray. His voice was cold again.

"Yes," Ray nodded. "Thank you. Could you train him then? I would prefer for him to be in full control when we are in another battle situation."

"Of course," Soichiro replied. "That was always my plan." He looked back at Reiji. "I've got to go for now," he said. "Business. You understand."

"Yeah, thanks dad," Reiji said.

Soichiro swept back out of the room. Ray was about to follow suit when Reiji called him back.

"Sir?" Reiji said in a timid voice. "I'm so sorry."

Ray looked back at his student and his expression softened. "Don't worry about it Reiji," he said. "I want you on my team. So train hard and next time you'll be ready. Now, I'm sure that your two friends outside would like to speak with you. Should I let them in?"

"Yes sir," Reiji said with a grin.

Author's Note:

_You know what? I'm feeling kinda dumb. Here I've been saying Editor's note when I'm the Author! Heh...so anyway...I got that one review last time that suggested that I create a chapter completely about the characters that I'm using in this story so that it would be easier to keep track of them. Sorry, but I'm not going to do that. I might write it all up on my profile though so that it'll be there, but so it will be out of the way. I've been thinking though, if anyone has any suggestions for my story on how to improve it then I'd like to hear from you. I know its not the best so any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. I'll also try to send messages to anyone who reviews so that you won't think I'm ignoring you. Thanks for reading! Until next time._


	8. Blade Master

Chapter 8: Blade Master

"They attacked without warning," Kanzo said. He was standing before the Jonin Council. "There was no time to warn the village. We could only fight and hope that someone would hear the battle and come."

"Was there any purpose to this attack?" one of the jonin asked. "What did they want?"

"They didn't tell me," Kanzo replied. "With all due respect sir, I think they were rather intent on slitting my throat. So we didn't really have much in the way of a decent conversation." A couple of the other jonin in the room chuckled quietly. The one who had spoken glared at them and they went silent. "However," Kanzo continued. "I do think I know why they attacked us. There were not many of them, maybe thirty at most, and they weren't rushing past us into the village so it was definitely not an invasion. I believe that they wanted to intimidate us. Make us think that we weren't safe even in our own village. That sort of thing."

"Thank you for your input," Soichiro said to Kanzo. "Please step outside for now. We'll call you back in if we need you." Kanzo gave a quick bow and left.

"So what do we have?" one of the jonin asked. "Do you think he's right? Could this have simply been an intimidation attack?"

"It's highly possible," Kankuro said. "Considering all of the circumstances…they certainly didn't want to hang around when we got a larger force around to fight them. So it wasn't a suicide rush."

"I agree," Soichiro said. "I and my men had barely just arrived when they retreated."

A jonin sighed. "Great. Now that we've established that, what do we do about it?"

Kankuro looked over at Soichiro. "Is there any way that we might track them? It would be helpful if we could actually learn where their base of operations is."

Soichiro shook his head. "You know how these people work. They won't go back to their base. We've tried tracking them down, but they just wander in circles until they are all wiped out. We catch them, but they use different ways to kill themselves and never give us any information."

There was a knock at the door to the council's chamber. It opened and a chunin ran in. "Sirs!" he said. "We've just received an urgent message from the Leaf Village."

"What is it?" a jonin asked.

"They've been attacked by enemy forces," the chunin said. "It was a small group, who quickly retreated once they were met with a larger force then their own." The jonin in the room all exchanged knowing glances with each other.

"When did this happen?" Kankuro asked.

"Yesterday," the chunin replied. "It was sometime in the afternoon."

"That's…approximately the same time we were attacked," one of the jonin said quietly.

"Thank you," Kankuro said to the chunin and waved him out of the room. "Well! What do you think of this?"

"They're planning something," a jonin said.

"Maybe it's a message?" another jonin suggested.

"Perhaps," Kankuro mused. "But why? What's the point? We've been fighting them for years. We know they are powerful. We know they are out there."

"But no one truly understands them," one of the jonin said. "It is their greatest advantage." All of the jonin sat in an uncomfortable silence.

* * *

"That's it!" Zaru said encouragingly. "Come at me again."

Hikaru stood facing his sword master. They each held a sword in their hands. Hikaru dove back in. He feinted and dodged to the side before swinging in. Zaru blocked the swing and Hikaru pushed on him hard. Zaru sighed, and shoved back, easily throwing Hikaru off of him.

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Zaru said exasperatedly. "Don't try to overwhelm your opponent! You're only twelve! You don't have the strength the beat grown men."

"I'm sorry Zaru-sensei," Hikaru said, shamefaced. "I just hoped that maybe I was getting strong enough."

"You'll have to wait another six or seven years before you are strong enough to beat me down," Zaru replied. "I think that's enough for today." He walked over to the rack of swords in his training room and placed his sword back on it. He turned back around to see Hikaru standing where he had left him. The boy was examining the sword in his hands with an expression of longing. "What is it?" Zaru asked him, although he knew what the boy was thinking.

"When am I going to get my own sword?" Hikaru asked.

"When I say you are ready," Zaru replied with a touch of impatience. He had said this many times before.

"But I've been training for so long!" Hikaru said. "If I don't have a sword, how will I ever use kenjutsu?"

"Enough!" Zaru yelled. "This session is over!" he walked over to Hikaru and snatched the sword back from him. "Get out!" he spat. Hikaru quickly complied, running out of the house. Zaru heard the door slamming behind the boy and he sighed.

"Letting your anger get the best of you again?"

Zaru didn't turn around. He knew who he was speaking with. "You can come out…Kurou."

An ANBU slid out of the floor and stood in front of Zaru. He was tall and muscular like Zaru. His hair was dark with a bluish hue to it. He was outfitted in typical ANBU garb as well as the animalistic mask to go with it. His mask was in the shape of a wolf. Strapped to his back was a long sword.

"Why do you have to be like this all the time?" Kurou asked. "I kinda liked the kid. He had some spunk."

"I am not always like this," Zaru replied. "Only when you are around." The ANBU laughed and Zaru grinned. "So why have you come Kurou?"

Kurou lifted the mask on his face. He had green eyes and wore a smirk on his face. He spread his arms innocently. "Can't an old comrade come and see his friend once in a while?"

"Yes, he can," Zaru replied. Then his face hardened. "But not if this visit is just another attempt by my old commander to bring me back into the ANBU. I left that all behind me years ago."

"Hey now," Kurou said. "He didn't send me. I promise, this is all unofficial. I just wanted to talk. You know, catch up on old times?"

Zaru laughed. "Old times? What are you, an old man? Last I checked we were only twenty-seven."

Kurou shrugged. "In this business, you never know. Come on; remember that restaurant we used to go to? The one we went to on Thursdays? And…" He leaned in closer. "…the one where Sayu works..."

"Who…" Zaru noticed the grin on Kurou's face. "Oh stop that. Listen, that was years ago! It was just a stupid crush!"

Kurou walked around Zaru and pushed him towards the doorway. "Well, then you have nothing to worry about," he said. Zaru protested all the way to the door, and then it closed behind the two shinobi. Unknown to the two of them, a window in the training room opened slowly. Hikaru slipped through it and landed on the floor lightly.

"Not allowing me to have a sword…" the boy muttered. "Huh, not likely." He walked over the rack of swords and selected one. He pulled it from the rack and hid it under his cloak. Then he leapt back through the window and left in the same way he had arrived.

* * *

"Ah!" Kurou leaned back luxuriously. "That was delicious." He and Zaru were at the restaurant.

"I see you still haven't lost your appetite," Zaru commented. "You ate almost twice as much as I did!"

"Yeah, well some things never change," Kurou said. "So tell me about this apprentice of yours. Is he good?"

Zaru nodded. "He's very good. In fact, I'd say he's one of the best I've ever seen. He has a lot of natural talent."

"And yet you're not happy with him?" Kurou asked.

"No, that's not it," Zaru sighed. "He just tries my patience sometimes. He's a good boy, just a little impatient to move on in his studies. But enough about me. How about you? How is everyone back in ANBU?"

"Oh, they're alright," Kurou looked away from Zaru. "You know how they are."

Zaru frowned. He had a feeling that Kurou wasn't telling him everything. "But-"

"Ah! Sayu!" Kurou called out. "Come over here for a minute!"

A pretty, young waitress walked over to their table. She had light brown hair and blue eyes. "Hello Kurou," she said. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine," Kurou replied. "And you're looking as beautiful as ever! Say, do you remember this guy over here?" He pointed at Zaru, who was bright red. "His name's Zaru. We used to come by on Thursdays every week."

"Oh!" Sayu smiled. "I remember you! It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you to," Zaru said through gritted teeth. He was staring determinedly at Kurou deciding which of the many ways at his disposal, he should use to kill him.

Kurou noticed his expression and winked. "Well, I best be off. Hey, isn't it about time for your lunch break, Sayu? I'm sure Zaru wouldn't mind buying you something. I'll see you both later!"

As he stood and walked off, he 'accidentally' bumped into Sayu, knocking her forward. Zaru instinctively caught her by the arm to steady her.

"Sorry about that," Kurou said. "Nice catch Zaru."

Zaru noticed he was still holding on to Sayu's arm and he pulled his hand away quickly, blushing. He looked back over at Kurou, but the ANBU wasn't there any more. He was already out the door.

"HEY!" Zaru shouted. "WHAT ABOUT THE BILL?" Kurou didn't reply. Zaru glared at the doorway. No, death was too good for Kurou. First he would drop him into a pit of spikes. Then he would tie him to a stake and leave him out in the open to starve for a week. Then he would…his gruesome thoughts were interrupted when he saw Sayu looking at him, confused.

"What was that all about?" she asked with a bewildered expression on her face.

Zaru shrugged. "I don't know…um…are you hungry?"

* * *

Hikaru stood out in the small forest Shikamaru Nara had started in the Sand Village. He swung the sword around, diving behind trees, pretending to fight enemies, and practicing the techniques his master had taught him.

Kurou watched the boy with a small smile on his face. He jumped down and landed silently behind Hikaru. "Hey kid!" he called out cheerfully.

Hikaru heard the voice and spun around, his sword at the ready. He froze when he saw who it was. "Oh, it's you," he said quickly. Then he went red. "I mean-"

"Obviously you know about me," Kurou interrupted. "After all, you were looking through a window when I came in and spoke with Zaru, weren't you?" Hikaru muttered something incoherent under his breath and Kurou laughed. "Hey, don't worry about it kid," he said. "I just wanted to talk."

"About what?" Hikaru asked.

"Have you ever had any trouble with Zaru?" Kurou asked. "You know, has he ever just really gotten on your nerves?"

"What are you getting at?" Hikaru asked suspiciously.

"You see, I've known Zaru a long time," Kurou explained. "He's not the perfect guy everyone thinks he is. He's a glory hound. All he cares about is himself. If you died tomorrow do you think he would care? It would just free up his time to do his own stuff. He wouldn't have to train you anymore. The only reason he is training you is because your daddy is on the jonin counsel and your uncle is his boss. Why else would he waste his time with a brat like you?"

"That's not true," said Hikaru. "He does care about me!"

"Grow up kid!" Kurou snapped. There was no kindness left in his voice. "Zaru is out for himself."

"Why are you saying all of this?" Hikaru cried. "You're his friend!"

"I was," Kurou replied coldly. "Until he took everything away from me!"

"What?" Hikaru's mouth dropped open. "What do you mean?"

"Zaru…was always the good boy," Kurou said. "Everyone liked him. He could do no wrong. Even I believed that was true. We were so different. I have no idea how we met each other. He was rich. I was poor. And yet, he never held that against me. I thought he was the greatest person ever. I loved him like he was my own brother. That was all before we became shinobi. We were on the same genin team. Our jonin sensei let us choose the one we wanted to lead our squad when he wasn't around. Of course, Zaru was chosen. I had wanted to be elected leader but it was no big deal. We couldn't vote for ourselves anyway. One day we went to this restaurant. There was this beautiful girl working there. She helped her parents run the place. We both had crushes on her. Zaru was too afraid to admit his feelings, but I wasn't. I spoke with her, but she refused me. She said…there was someone else. I knew who she meant. It was then I first began to resent Zaru. Why should someone have everything while I had nothing? But I thought I was being foolish and didn't say anything. More time passed and we both became chunin. When we were fourteen Zaru was offered a position within the ANBU. He spoke with them and got me into it as well. We were the best team the ANBU had ever seen. Or so I thought. It happened just six years ago on this very day. We were out on a mission. Our team leader was struck down in battle so Zaru took the lead. Our mission was to deliver some precious documents to the Leaf Village. Zaru took those from our leader and we went on. The enemy was close behind us of the whole way. Eventually they caught us. We split up into groups. I was off fighting on my own, my partner had been killed almost instantly, but I could see the others. One by one they all fell in the battle. I searched for Zaru, but I couldn't find him. It was so chaotic in there. Finally, I spotted him." Kurou's eyes narrowed. "Do you know what I saw? He was running. Yes! Him! Zaru the perfect ninja running from a battle. Behind him, two of ours teammates were fighting for their lives. They were killed. Zaru, escaped. I followed him soon after. He made it to safety in the Leaf Village. The documents were delivered. Zaru was hailed as a hero upon our return to here, the Sand Village. Only I knew what he really was. A COWARD!" Kurou shouted out this last sentence. He took a step towards Hikaru. "Now you know," he said. "What do you think of Zaru now?"

Hikaru stood in silence staring at the ground. The sword he held in his hand was hanging loosely at his side. "I don't know what he was," Hikaru said. "But I do know who he is now." He looked up at Kurou, his eyes blazing. "He is a great man. Don't you dare call him a coward ever again."

Kurou sighed. "I thought you of all people would understand," he said. "I guess not. Time for plan B then."

"Plan B?" Hikaru asked nervously.

"Yeah," Kurou placed his hand on his sword's hilt. "The one where I capture you and use you as a hostage. That ought to get his attention."

Hikaru took a step back. "What? You're crazy!"

"Call me what you will," Kurou said quietly. "But I will not be kept back from my revenge."

"Your…revenge?" Hikaru whispered. He steadied himself and spoke louder. "So they died," he said. "Its part of a mission. Shinobi risk their lives every day for their villages. People are going to die. It's an unavoidable consequence."

"What do you know!" Kurou snapped. "One of those shinobi who was killed…who Zaru left behind, was my brother! He had just joined the ANBU and…Zaru promised…" Kurou's voice trailed off.

"What did he promise?" Hikaru asked softly. He already knew the answer.

"He promised…" Kurou began again. "…to protect him." Hikaru moved back another step. Kurou wasn't looking at him anymore. "He promised me. But then he ran away and now my brother is dead." Kurou was talking with himself.

Hikaru knew this was his only chance. He continued moving back slowly until he could no longer see Kurou. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and turned around…to face Kurou who was standing directly behind him.

"Thinking of leaving?" Kurou asked. "I'm afraid that's not possible. I need you to bring Zaru to me."

Hikaru didn't respond. Instead he dove in and slashed at Kurou with his sword. Kurou dodged to the side and knocked Hikaru aside with his hand. Hikaru landed face first in the dirt, but in an instant he was back on his feet. He held his sword out in front of him and continued backing away from Kurou.

"What's wrong boy?" Kurou asked. Then he grinned insanely. "Are you afraid of me?"

Hikaru gulped. Then he turned and ran. He heard Kurou laughing behind him. Adrenaline kicked in and the trees blurred around him as he ran. Kurou appeared on his right and dove in swinging his sword at Hikaru's head. Hikaru swung his sword up and blocked. He dug his heels in and stood his ground. It was a mistake. Kurou easily threw him away. Hikaru landed on his feet lightly and inwardly punched himself for his stupidity.

"_Master warned me not to do this!_" Hikaru thought. "_What was it he said? Oh yeah…I need to use my speed. Now how am I supposed to do that? Wait…I've got an idea._"

As Kurou moved in towards Hikaru he noticed the boy's expression change from one of fear into a look of concentration. "_He's planning something,_" Kurou realized.

He dove in and sliced down at Hikaru's head again. Hikaru made as if to block again, but this time he rushed forward under Kurou's guard. He slashed at the man's waist, but just before his blade would have impact Kurou disappeared.

"Nice try," said a voice from behind Hikaru. Hikaru whipped around just in time for him to see a fist impacting with his face. He fell down on his back, his nose was bleeding. "Foolish brat," Kurou sneered. "You actually thought you could beat me? An ANBU? Please. You would be lucky to even scratch me. Oh well. You're too much trouble. I'll need to take you alive, but no one said it had to be in one piece." Kurou raised his sword above his head.

Hikaru knew he had to think of something fast. Then it came to him. He felt rather stupid that he hadn't thought of it before. He seized the side of his cloak and swirled it around his whole body. Before Kurou's very eyes, he vanished.

"Where are you?!?!" Kurou screamed. He brought his sword down on the spot where Hikaru had been a moment before. It bit into the ground. There was no one there.

Hikaru stood by a tree. He knew he could get away now, but his pride overtook his reason. He crouched, and then lay down on the ground. He pulled himself forward at a rapid, practiced pace until he was directly behind Kurou. Then he jumped up.

Kurou heard the movement and spun around just in time to stop Hikaru's sword from cutting into him. In an instant Hikaru was back on the ground and had disappeared again. Kurou once again heard someone behind him and spun around to block another strike. Also once again Hikaru had dropped back to the ground and was gone in an instant. He was all over the place. Kurou could barely keep up with Hikaru's pace. Kurou turned right to stop a blow that was headed for his chest, then he had to block an overhead slash that was going for his head, and then he spun around to face…nothing. Hikaru popped up on the other side of him and thrust his blade at Kurou's unprotected back. The ANBU moved like lightning. He spun to the side and grabbed Hikaru's wrist, twisting it so that the boy would drop his sword, and then Kurou seized him by the neck and slammed him against a tree.

"Not bad, brat," Kurou said. "But you can't keep up with me no matter how many little tricks you use!"

Once again Hikaru felt stupid. He had had a chance to escape, but he had wasted it only to get captured!

"Don't worry," Kurou said. "I won't cut off your arms or anything. But I can't have to attacking me like this, can I?" He slid his sword back into its hilt and then pulled back his fist. "Goodnight," he said with a grin. His fist shot towards Hikaru's face and the world went black.

* * *

Zaru walked home slowly with a smile on his face. He whistled a random tune as he went. After eating, he had spent the last hour talking with Sayu. Then he asked her out and she had said yes! Zaru felt his heart doing back flips as he went. He walked up to his house, not really paying attention to any of his surroundings, but then as he took out his keys and stuck them into the lock he noticed a piece of paper in the door. He pulled it out and read it. It said:

_Zaru, I've got Hikaru. If you say anything to anyone I'll kill him. Come meet me at Training Ground Twelve. We will discuss this there. Oh, and bring your sword with you. You'll need it. P.S. I'm at the center of the Training Ground._

Zaru froze in shock. "_Hikaru? Kidnapped?_" His hands began to shake and he crumbled the paper into a ball. "_Whoever you are…you're going to pay!_"

Zaru opened his door and walked in. Then he went upstairs to his room and pulled a picture aside that was on the wall. Behind the picture was a safe. He put in the combination and opened it. He reached inside the safe and pulled out a long object that was wrapped in cloth. It had a shoulder strap hanging down from the cloth. He held it in his hands for a moment, and then slung it over his back alongside his own sword, which he was already carrying, and he walked back out of his house. After locking up he leapt onto a building and raced along towards the training ground.

It only took him three minutes to reach his destination. He walked up to one of the training grounds entrance points. He slipped in through the gate and dashed through the training ground, searching for any sign of life. Finally, he reached the center of the area and saw a figure up ahead. He felt anger burning inside him, and he picked up speed. To his surprise, when he came within sight range of the person, he knew who it was. Kurou stood there, his eyes closed.

"Kurou!" Zaru called. His friend opened his eyes. "What are you doing here?" Zaru said as he slowed to a jog.

"I was…waiting for you," Kurou said.

"Waiting for me?" Zaru asked. "What-"

"Oh come on," Kurou said. "You know why I am here?"

Zaru frowned. "Did you find that message that someone left for me at my house?"

"NO!" Kurou yelled.

Zaru took a step back. Kurou was acting so differently from before. Something was wrong.

"You don't understand," Kurou growled. "And here I thought you were smart. Take a good look!" He pulled on some wires, which Zaru hadn't noticed before due to the fact that they are practically invisible, and Hikaru appeared. The boy's hands and feet were tied together and he was gagged.

Zaru stared at Hikaru for a moment, not realizing what he was seeing. Then it clicked in his brain. "You!" he whirled on Kurou, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You kidnapped him!"

"Bingo!" Kurou said with a small smile. "I decided this would be the best way to get your attention."

"Well, you've got it," Zaru replied. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?" Kurou stood there, pretending to think for a moment. "Oh, I know. Zaru, I want you to die."

"What?" Zaru's eyes widened. "What did you say?"

"You heard me!" Kurou snapped. "You must pay for what you've done. You…left my brother to die!"

"I don't…" Zaru began.

"Of course you remember," Kurou said. "We were delivering information to the Hokage and we were attacked. While we were fighting for our lives, I saw you running away from the battle. You left my brother behind. I watched him get cut down!"

"Do you mean…all those years ago…Kurou; I didn't abandon your brother," Zaru said.

"You liar!" Kurou shouted. "You ran to save your own life, coward!"

"No!" Zaru said. "You've got it all wrong. Your brother told me to run. He wanted me to get the information to the Hokage. He stayed behind to fight and cover my escape."

"Stop lying!" Kurou was practically screaming now.

"I'm not lying," Zaru replied calmly. "I hated myself for doing it. That was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. Do what you want with me, but let Hikaru go. He's got nothing to do with this. I don't understand why you even brought him into this."

"Sure you don't," Kurou sneered. "You wouldn't have come if I hadn't had a hostage."

"Just one thing," Zaru said. "I don't understand why you came today. You acted…like nothing was wrong."

Kurou shrugged. "It's simple really. I needed to find someone who you cared about. I haven't seen you in years. I wasn't sure if you had anyone close enough who you would want to protect."

"Why didn't you take Sayu then?" Zaru asked. "After all, she's not a shinobi. She wouldn't be able to fight back. This boy here is a genin, but even so he's more dangerous then some waitress. Besides, as I'm sure you are aware, he's the adopted son of a member of the Jonin Council and if this boy came to any harm I'm sure his father wouldn't be too pleased."

Kurou hesitated for a moment before answering. "You've been gone for so long…I was sure you had forgotten all about Sayu. I know you well. You wouldn't have cared if I had just taken someone at random."

Zaru frowned. "_I'm sure he's lying,_" he thought. "_But why?_"

"It doesn't matter, though," Kurou replied. "You're here now." He drew his sword and stepped towards Zaru.

Zaru stiffened. "_At this point, I don't care what happens to me, but Hikaru…Kurou never said what he would do with him. But I'm sure that if he's willing to kill me then he won't let the boy go. He's too much of a liability. Without Hikaru around, Kurou can slip back into the ANBU and no one will know what happened._"

Kurou took another step forward and he held his sword down at his side. Suddenly, he shot forward and swung his sword at Zaru. Zaru bent his body backwards and he felt the air off of Kurou's blade as it went over his chest. Zaru twisted his body to the side around Kurou and found himself standing between Kurou and Hikaru. Zaru drew his long sword and sliced it through the wires that were still connecting Kurou's hand to Hikaru. Kurou growled in frustration and went after Zaru again, slashing at him with his sword. Zaru knocked away the blows and sliced the back of Kurou's sword hand with his own sword, making him drop his weapon. Zaru lowered his sword, thinking he had won, but in that moment Kurou formed a hand sign and then thrust his open palms at Zaru. _Wind Style: Open Air Strike! _A blast of wind slammed into Zaru's chest and he doubled over in pain. It felt like someone had punched him in the gut. Kurou took that moment to pick up his sword in his uninjured hand and slashed at Zaru's head. Zaru saw it and raised his own sword just in time to save himself. Kurou formed the hand sign and again and thrust his free palm into Zaru's chest. Once again Zaru felt the sensation of being punched and he was thrown back from Kurou, landing on the ground hard. Kurou raised his sword, and sliced it down through the air at Zaru. As Zaru was pulling himself to his feet, he saw an almost invisible ripple moving towards him. He raised his own sword and watched as the ripple approached quickly. Just before it would hit him he brought his sword down on it and it burst. Zaru felt a cool breeze washing over him and he smirked at Kurou who glared back.

Hikaru, who was lying right behind Zaru, saw what happened and was shocked. "_How did he block that attack?_" Hikaru wondered. He could clearly see Zaru's sword from where he was lying. He noticed several small symbols running up and down the blade. He had never seen them before. Admittedly he had never been this close when Zaru had his sword unsheathed. Zaru never used it even while he was teaching Hikaru kenjutsu. Hikaru looked over at Kurou for a moment then back at Zaru and he noticed with some surprise that Zaru was wearing something else strapped across his back. "_What is that?_" Hikaru wondered.

Zaru leapt forward and swung his sword down. Kurou knocked it aside and Zaru turned it into a slash from the side. Kurou leapt back just in time to dodge the swing and he landed lightly a few feet away.

"Come on Kurou," Zaru said. "Give up already. I don't want to hurt you."

Kurou laughed. "I think you're a little mixed up," he said. "You don't have the advantage in this battle."

"Stop pretending, Kurou," Zaru said. "You know I'm going easy."

Kurou hesitated, but then nodded. "I suppose that's true," he admitted. "If you wanted to destroy me you would have drawn that other blade, wouldn't you? I know you have it. But I doubt you have the guts to do it."

"I'm not a fool," Zaru said, his tone turning angry. "You know I don't want to do that."

"Why hesitate?!" Kurou snapped. "I want to fight your full power. I want to prove that you're weak! That you're nothing more then a coward!"

"Why should I?" Zaru asked. "You don't deserve to fight that sword. This one will be enough to finish you off."

Kurou sighed. "Then I suppose I should force you to use that sword." He slid his sword back into its sheath and began forming hand signs. "I've been training lately Zaru," he said. "I've prepared for this moment!"

"As if I'd let you!" Zaru snarled as he dashed forward. He jumped up over Kurou and came down with his sword aiming at Kurou's head.

"To late…" Kurou whispered.

Wind erupted from all around Kurou. It struck Zaru and blasted him back. He managed to land on his feet, but was almost knocked over by a gust of wind that had appeared out of nowhere. Kurou stood in the center of the wind. It formed into a small cyclone, which protected the shinobi inside.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," Kurou said.

"What is that jutsu?" Zaru asked as he struggled to stand in the gale. "Is it some kind of shield?"

"Close," Kurou said. "But not quite. This wind is more then a shield for me. It makes it so that you cannot get anywhere near me!"

"_We'll see about that_," Zaru thought. He lifted his sword and held it out in front of him. Immediately, the wind directly in front of him died down until it was no more then a light breeze.

"Ah yes," Kurou said. "That sword again. It could cause some problems for me, couldn't it?"

Zaru didn't reply. Instead he ran forward holding his sword out in front of him. As he went the wind dispersed before him.

"Very well," said Kurou, sounding vaguely annoyed. "Have it your way." He dove down on Zaru and swung his sword around to clash with Zaru's. The two swords clanged together and each of the men tried the force the other one back.

Zaru put all of his strength into the battle of endurance. The winds whipped all around him, but they couldn't touch him. "_I…can't…lose_," Zaru thought. "_If only for Hikaru's sake…_" He could feel Kurou beginning to give way. "_Good…_" he thought. "_Just a little more_!"

"_He's to strong_!" Kurou thought as he felt himself being pushed back. He pulled back suddenly, causing Zaru to stumble, and he leapt high into the air, using the winds to keep him aloft. He swung his sword three times through the air and Zaru, who had regained his balance, noticed three ripples move through the air towards him.

"_To easy…_" Zaru thought. He waited until the ripples were right in front of him and then he slashed his sword through each of them, negating them. As he looked back up at Kurou, he saw the enemy shinobi slash his sword a forth time. Zaru readied himself to intercept it, but it shot low over his head. "_What…?_" Zaru turned around to see the ripple coming down on Hikaru. Zaru knew what Kurou wanted him to do, but he had no choice. He pulled back his arm, and threw the sword at the ripple. It passed through the ripple, dissipating it, and kept going.

As soon as he did, Kurou dove down towards him, ready to finish him off. Zaru spun around to see Kurou right on top of him. There was a look of fear in his eyes. Then suddenly, his look of horror was quickly replaced by a smirk. Kurou saw a glint on one of Zaru's fingers. It was a wire! Zaru's sword appeared like magic back in his hand and he brought it around, hooking it around Kurou's sword and flicking it out of his hands. Zaru swung his sword back, slicing Kurou's chest open. There was a spurt of blood and Kurou collapsed on the ground next to Zaru. The wind died down. All was silent. Kurou's sword fell from the sky and landed point first in the ground. Zaru walked over to it, and plucked it out of the sand. He sighed and turned back around, to see Kurou standing up. The shinobi was holding a kunai and he ran towards Hikaru.

"I will have my revenge!" he screamed. He raised the kunai above his head; Hikaru lay there bound and helpless.

For Zaru, it was as if everything had slowed down. He dropped Kurou's sword and raised his own. He turned it in a circle in front of him and channeled all of his chakra into his feet. He disappeared…and then reappeared on the other side of Kurou, except, when he reappeared his eyes were closed and he slid his sword back into its sheath. Kurou took a few more steps before stopping.

"I guess…I lost," he said quietly. Then his body virtually exploded as blood rushed out of dozens of different wounds. He fell to his knees gasping for air.

Zaru ignored him and walked over to Hikaru. He pulled out one of his own kunai and gently cut away Hikaru's bonds. The boy reached up and pulled his gag out, coughing.

"I'm sorry," Zaru said. "I didn't think…"

"Zaru…" Kurou's voice came out as a rasp. Zaru turned to face him. The once powerful shinobi sat there on his knees, blood pouring from his body. "You win…this round," he gasped, and then he leaned over and spat in the sand. His spittle came out red. "But know this," Kurou said, his voice gaining strength. "I will destroy you. This isn't over…"

Zaru glared back at him. "Of course it is," he said. "You're finished."

"No…" To both Hikaru and Zaru's surprise, Kurou pushed himself shakily back to his feet. "…not while I still can stand." Kurou spun around and raced towards his sword. As he went he formed hand signs.

Zaru was about to go after him, but before he could, Hikaru was up and running after Kurou. Zaru jumped up and grabbed the boy, pulling him back.

Kurou finished his hand signs and once more the cyclone whipped around him. Hikaru was thrown back by the force of the wind and he knocked Zaru over. Kurou seized his sword and sprang into the air. The cyclone lifted him up into the sky and he flew away into the distance. Within seconds, he was gone.

Zaru stood and watched his former friend become a dot in the distance and then disappear completely. He looked around at Hikaru who was pulling himself up into a sitting position.

"He got away," Zaru said unnecessarily, in a monotone voice.

Hikaru glared at Zaru from where he sat. "I was going to get him. Why did you stop me?"

Zaru sighed and sat down next to Hikaru. "Even in his weakened state he is stronger then you."

"Maybe," Hikaru growled. "By the way, what's up with your sword? I didn't know you could stop ninjutsu with that thing."

"This?" Zaru held up his sword. "It disrupts chakra. When Kurou was using wind style ninjutsu all I had to do was hold my sword through the air and the chakra in it was gone. Once the driving force behind the wind was gone…well, I'm sure you can figure it out from there."

"Then…what about that jutsu you used to finish off Kurou?" Hikaru asked. "I know I've seen it before…"

"Yeah, you have," Zaru replied. "That jutsu is quite simple. I focus all my chakra into my feet and then run up to my opponent and start hacking away. The chakra in my feet makes me move fast so that they don't see me coming. It's called the Thousand Blades Jutsu. I dunno who made that name up, I certainly didn't, but that's where my title, the Thousand Blades Ninja, came in."

"All you did was charge chakra to your feet?" Hikaru frowned. "Then why did you spin your sword in front of yourself before you attacked?"

Zaru laughed. "That's a distraction so that my opponents don't realize what I'm doing until it's too late. Although, it's sort of become a habit, I guess. Kurou had his back to me when I did it, so he couldn't see me anyway. Crazy, huh?" Zaru jumped back to his feet and brushed himself off. "Well, no point in staying here all day. Let's head back."

Hikaru stood and they walked off, side by side. There were several minutes of silence as they went, and after a while Zaru glanced down at Hikaru to see that his face looked troubled.

"What's wrong Hikaru?" Zaru asked.

"I…I'm sorry…" Hikaru whispered. "I've been so stupid today…"

"What do you mean?" Zaru asked.

Hikaru stopped and looked up at Zaru. "I took one of your swords," he said.

"You did what?" Zaru frowned down at Hikaru.

"I took one of your swords and was messing around with it," Hikaru said. "I waited until you had left with Kurou and then I slipped in a window to get it."

"Why?" Zaru asked.

"Because…you wouldn't let me have one…" Hikaru looked downcast.

Zaru crouched down beside the small boy and put a hand on his shoulder. "You do understand why I did that, don't you?" he said. Hikaru shook his head. "The reason was because you are not a swordsman," Zaru said. Hikaru opened his mouth to say something, but Zaru held up a hand and stopped him. "Let me finish," he said. "You are not a swordsman. Oh, I'll give you a sword one day, but you are a puppet master at heart. It's your true strength. I didn't want you to forget that."

"Why didn't you just tell me this before?" Hikaru asked.

"Would you have listened?" Zaru said with a grin.

Hikaru smiled ruefully. "Probably not."

"See what I mean?" Zaru said. "It's more of something you have to learn on your own. So where is the sword now?"

"I think it got left behind in that forest that the Nara family started," Hikaru said.

"Let's go get it then," Zaru said.

Hikaru smiled, but then his face fell. "There is something else…" he muttered.

Zaru sighed dramatically. "What is it this time?" he asked.

"I could have escaped," Hikaru said. "I could have gotten away from Kurou if I had wanted to."

"Hikaru, there is no way that you could have-" Zaru began. Hikaru took a couple steps back and then swirled his cloak around his body. He disappeared. Zaru stopped and stared at the space where his apprentice had just vanished. "Hikaru?" he said softly. He felt something poke him in the back and he whirled around. Zaru's mouth dropped open. Hikaru was standing behind him. "How did you do that?" Zaru asked.

"It's my cloak," Hikaru replied. "When I need to hide, it changes color to match my surroundings. I become practically invisible. Like I was saying, I could have escaped and gotten away from Kurou, but I was foolish. I tried to fight him and I got beat."

"This is…Hikaru, this thing is amazing!" Zaru said.

"Yeah, I suppose…" Hikaru replied.

"Where did you get this?" Zaru asked.

Hikaru hesitated, and then he said, "I've had it for as long as I can remember. If you know what I mean."

Zaru looked at Hikaru sadly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to bring back bad memories." Then he smiled. "Look, all that fighting really wore me out. How about we go pick up that sword you dropped and then we can go get something to eat. I know this great place…" Zaru put his arm around Hikaru's shoulders and they walked off together.

_Author's Note:_

_First off, thanks to everyone for reading. I know my story is coming along slowly, but thanks for sticking around. I'll be putting more info on the characters of this story on my profile soon. I'll also try to have the next chapter done in a week at most, but I'm not promising anything. College is unpredictable sometimes. That's all for now except, of course, please leave a review before you go! _


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